Gallagher Goes to Blackthorne
by BookkWorm
Summary: The girls are headed for Blackthorne in yet another one of my Cliche Stories! Dark secrets, twisted pasts, and hilarious moments are greatly anticipated as everyone's favorite Gallagher girls are headed for The Blackthorne Academy for Boys. This will be one crazy semester. (Not a sequel to Gallagher Girls Summer)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was Saturday. Quite obviously, the best day of the week. And what a week it had been. Never before have I received so much homework in one week. I swear, it's like they expected us to have all this free time, or maybe they were making up for having no homework over the summer.

It was the first week back and Bex and I were in the gym, working off some steam. We had spent hours last night finishing that homework, and we still had work to do. We started right after our last class, worked through dinner and then late into the night before collapsing into a pile on the floor. But of course, since we were on the floor I woke up way too early and couldn't fall back asleep so I woke up Bex and we told Mace and Liz where we were going then went to the gym.

Punches were flying, kicks hitting flesh, and quite honestly it was the best part of the week! We even scared some little 7th graders out of the gym. So quite honestly, I was in a wonderful mood! We had been down there for about...thirteen hours. We headed down to the gym at around, 5:30 (early, I know) and had been down there ever since, only stopping to eat a granola bar or two from our gym bags. Anyway, dinner was in about an hour and we were starving!

"I can't feel my arm." Bex whined.

"I can't feel my anything." I countered. Training with Bex was always body numbing. Kinda like studying with Liz.

"I bet I have more bruises than you." She challenged with a gleam in her eye.

"No way, I definitely have more bruises." I said confidently.

She snorted. "It's entirely possible, you are very boney you know." She said teasingly.

"Well I think I automatically win, because you gave me a cut." I said defiantly.

She thought it over. "Okay, fine you win this round."

I grinned triumphantly but with a thought it was wiped from my face. "So I win at getting injured?" I asked her dangerously.

She grinned at the realization. "Yeah, I guess you do."

"Oh joy." I said pushing her into the wall before sprinting down the hall. "Beat you to our room!" I exclaimed as she picked herself off and shot down the hall after me.

We dodged Gallagher Girls as we sprinted down the hall. Half way down the next hall Bex caught up to me and stuck a leg out to trip me, I jumped over it and pressed her up against the wall to slow her down. She reached over and yanked on my hair, pulling into the lead but I regained some ground (and rolled my ankle) when she narrowly avoided running into an older student.

We were neck in neck as we neared our dorm. We switched constantly, never really knowing who was in the lead. It was a close call. Or, it would have been if Liz hadn't opened the door and stepped out into the hall sending us both into a frenzy trying to avoid running into her.

"There you are!" Liz exclaimed throwing her arms up as Bex and I ran in practically fell to the floor trying to stop ourselves in time.

"What do you mean 'there you are' you know exactly where we were." Bex said as we leaned over heaving, trying to catch our breaths.

"Well, we didn't think you were going to be gone that long!" Liz exclaimed "If we had known, we would've come to find you!"

"And when we didn't show you just...what? Decided we would show up eventually? It sounds like it's pretty important." I asked teasingly, flexing my ankle.

"Well, we were too busy planning and freaking out." I looked up at her.

"Planning AND freaking out? What the heck happened while we were in the gym?" I asked intensely curious.

"Yes." Liz said simply.

"Liz, do me and Cam a favor here and _explain what happened_." Bex said excitedly.

"Okay, well you guys left really early this morning to work out, but the rest of us just slept." I noted her use of the phrase 'rest of us' meaning it wasn't just her and Macey. "So we woke up a few hours after you guys left and there was a note on the floor of our room, and the crazy part is we didn't hear anyone enter the room like at all so we were a little freaked. Anyway the envelope has all of our names on it so we open up the note and all it says is "Roof. 8 pm." So Macey and I deduce that it's probably from Solomon for some extra kind of homework thing that they need me to run tech for so we decided to go ask the other girls about it. Subtly, of course.

"So we go to breakfast, and the first person who approaches us is Tina who was asking for you and she told us that she, Kim, Courtney, Mick, Eva, and Anna all got one. No one know's what's going on and of course she thought you would so we told her how you couldn't possibly know and she left us alone. I'm surprised she didn't come looking for you guys, she looked pretty intent on getting answers." Liz finished breathlessly. She inhaled deeply then coughed as she tried to exhale. "You guys smell awful." She said plugging her nose.

We grinned and leaned in closer to her. "What do you mean Lizzie?" I asked innocently.

She gagged a little and ran into the room yelling for Macey. Bex and I grinned at each other and followed her into the room.

"Macey, I'm not kidding, it's like a dead skunk!" Liz was complaining to Macey as we entered the room.

"Hey Mace." Bex said as she walked over to give her a hug.

Macey made a disgusted noise before covering her mouth and nose. "Shower. Now, both of you."

"Awww but Maaaceeeyyy." I fake complained as I grabbed my shower bag and a change of clothes.

"I'm not kidding Baxter, move it." She ordered and Bex jokingly straightened and saluted her. We laughed and exited the room to go to the bathroom down the hall.

"So Bex, what do you think that note was about?" I asked as we walked leisurely down the hall.

"Something exciting, I'm sure, but until I get some food into me, I can't think." She whined

I laughed a little then held back a gasp of pain as I stepped on an uneven floor board with my injured ankle. I rotated it slightly as we walked, trying to release the tension. Bex (thankfully) didn't comment.

"I think we still have snacks back in our dorm" I commented as we entered the communal bathroom.

"We'd better." She replied as we walked past the stalls to the showers.

Now, Gallagher is a seriously prestigious boarding school, meaning we're all incredibly lucky enough to have bathrooms attached to our bedrooms. Unfortunately the bathrooms have absolute horrible water pressure and you never know what color the water will be. After a few decades of the this, one of the old Headmistresses decided enough was enough and put in communal bathrooms. Now, we have several modern and wonderful bathrooms on each floor, and the bathrooms near the gym and on the floors with dorms have showers. There aren't enough showers for every girl to be able to shower at one time so sometimes showering can really suck, luckily for us, Bex and I were the only girls using the shower at that time.

We picked showers next to each other, the farthest from the entrance on the left. We hooked our towels right outside the door, hung our waterproof bags on the hooks inside the door and closed the curtain.

Bex likes to shower fairly quickly, but I love long showers, so most of the time, when we're in a hurry, Bex will challenge me to see who can finish first. This was one such time.

"I bet I can shower in less than 3 minutes. Macey style shower." She challenged.

"I bet I'll be done before you." I replied with an eyebrow raised and an idea in my head.

"Doubt it. Ready, set, Go!" She yelled and we both ran into our showers. I had stripped in seconds and had the water turned on to the correct temperature quickly. I didn't waste any time. I had scrubbed my head and placed conditioner in before we hit a minute. From the noises coming from Bex's stall I had assumed she was in the same place as I was, but here was the tricky part.

A Macey style shower involved conditioning for a minute and a thirty second face mask, as well as two body scrubs. To take up less time, you put in the conditioner first, then put on the face mask, then while those sit you use the body scrubs. My plan to set Bex back was to throw off her conditioning. If you happen to get soap in your hair while you're using your body scrub, the conditioning doesn't count and you have to start again. It's harrowing to try and keep your hair out of the way and Bex was a master at it, so to ruin the conditioning, I was going to squirt body soap over the top and get it in her hair. I would have one shot.

After completing my first body scrub, I grabbed my regular body soap and gripped it with 2 hands. I looked at her legs under the stall and managed to guess where she was standing. I calculated how much force I would need to use and then squeezed the bottle, hard, launching a glob of soap over the top of the stall. Her cry of anguish let me know of my success. I had managed to land it on her head 57 seconds into her conditioning.

To prevent her from doing the same to me, I quickly began to rinse out my hair and the quickly applied the second body scrub. I finished with plenty of time to spare as I wrapped my towel around my body before crossing to a dry stall to change. I took my time changing and putting lotion on. Once I was changed I walked over the mirrors and took out my wide tooth comb, just in time to see Bex stalk out of her stall, completely clothed, but angry.

"You win this time Morgan, but I want a rematch." She said as she joined me.

"I look forward to it." I said cooly.

We made steely eye contact then started chuckling, all forgiven.

"So, food?" I asked hopefully as we finished combing our hair.

She looked at her sopping hair wistfully before nodding yes.

We grabbed our things, ran a towel through our hair once so it wouldn't drip and made our way back to our dorm room.

We flung open the door and threw our things to the side as we crossed for the box that had our snack food.

"You're hair is wet." Macey commented from where she lounged with Liz on her bed.

"Dang Mace you're getting really good at this whole observation thing." Bex said sarcastically as she dug into a bag of pretzels.

"You should dry it." She commented without even looking up from the computer.

"We will, but Bex's stomach was growling loud enough to wake a bear in the middle of winter, so we decided to eat something first" I said as I shoved a handful of M&M's into my mouth.

"What'cha lookin at?" Bex asked around the pretzels in her mouth.

"Trying to figure out where we're going tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah. Liz even recruited Kim and Courtney to help. They're working from their rooms using Liz's wireless connecter thing." Macey answered.

"I'm almost desperate enough to ask you guys for help." Liz murmured under her breath.

"Why not ask us for help? If we got all ten of us working on it, it would be much easier." Macey commented.

Liz paused and rubbed a hand over her face. "Go get the other girls. We're going to need to be in the same room so we can dish out commands. I'll setup the wireless network."

We leapt to our feet to get the other girls. Macey took Bex to go get Courtney, Kim, Mick, and Anna. They were all in Kim's room.

"Cam, go find Tina and Eva. If I'm right, they'll be down in Eva's room." Macey said grabbing Bex's arm.

"Aye aye captain." I saluted and sauntered down the hall, shaking my hair out as I went.

I turned the corner and ran right into Tina and Eva.

"Hey Cam!" Tina exclaimed when she saw me.

"Hey Tina, I was just coming to find you two," I said gesturing to Eva. "Liz wants us all to work on figuring out where we're going tonight."

"Really?" Eva asked surprised

"Yeah, we figured if we all worked on it we could figure it out pretty fast." I replied.

"Cool, well, we should go get our laptops. Come with us?" Tina asked.

"I'd love to" I answered stepping into the space she opened between herself and Eva.

"Awesome." Eva said linking arms with me.

"You know Cam I have this really epic hair dryer that would have your hair dry in less than thirty seconds." Tina said confidently.

"No way." I said disbelieving.

"Try it for yourself if you don't believe me. By the time we can find our computers, your hair will be completely dry." She challenged.

I thought about it for a minute then nodded as she opened her dorm door. "Alright, I'll take you up on that challenge."

"Good. It's over there on the dresser." She said gesturing across the room to where the magical hair dryer lay.

"Okay, ready?" I asked when I reached the dryer.

Tina and Eva nodded from where they stood by the door.

"Go." Tina said with a nod and I whipped it on.

Sure enough, by the time they had found their laptops (almost a minute later, Eva's was buried under a mountain of stuff) my hair was completely dry.

"That is incredible." I said staring at the machine in wonder.

"I know right. And you'll notice your hair is incredibly soft." Eva commented.

"And hardly tangled. That thing is a miracle worker. It's saved us more than once." Tina finished, leading us from her room down the hall.

"My mom found this guy in some nowhere town who alters regular dryers so that they work better. I can send him yours if you'd like." She offered.

"Yeah, that would be incredible."

"I can have it back to you in less than a week. This guy gets like no business for some insane reason. My mom probably paid him off."

We turned the corner and saw an impatient Bex waiting in front of our dorm room door.

"There you are!" She yelled. "Hurry up!"

We picked up our pace and ran the rest of the way to the our dorm.

"We've been waiting for you three. Eva, Tina, give your laptops to Liz to hook up. We already did yours Cam." Bex ordered as we approached the door.

I nodded my thanks and winced a little. Unfortunately, Eva noticed.

"You okay Cam?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just rolled my ankle earlier and it's a little sore." I waved it off.

"That can be really damaging to your joints. My dad taught me how to help it though, it will make your ankle feel much better and it will keep it from being too seriously painful. It's like a weird muscle strengthening voodoo thing. It will take like ten seconds, if you want." She explained.

"Well...if you think it will help." I said timidly.

"Oh totally, I do it all the time to my own ankles. They're super weak."

"Hey Tina!" Courtney called

"Tina, take my laptop to Liz?" Eva asked and Tina nodded before grabbing the two laptops and taking them to the line of girls in front of Liz's bed.

Eva turned to me, the question still in her eyes.

"Sure, if you can that would be nice." I said shyly.

"Of course, let's go sit on your bed."

I surveyed the room and saw the other eight Gallagher Girls in our room. It was weird having all these people in our room.

"Hey Cammie." Anna said as she came to sit next to me and Eva.

"Hey Anna!" I replied. I'd come to really like Anna. We were pretty similar and had been paired in more than one Cove Ops assignment.

"Hey Anna." Eva said.

"Hi Eva." Anna replied

"So you really think we can figure it out?" Anna asked

"Yeah, definitely." I replied confidently.

"Do you think they realize that we're gonna figure it out in an hour and 12 minutes anyway?" She asked with a small smile.

I giggled a little "I don't think they care. Liz is like a bloodhound on the scent. She won't stop until she's found what she's looking for. She can be like that sometimes."

"Okay Cam, let me see your ankle." Eva said pulling me away from the conversation with Anna.

"What happened to your ankle?" Anna asked as I pulled my leg up in between me and Eva.

"Nothing major, just rolled it earlier." I waved my hand like it was no big deal.

Eva place her hands on my ankle, gently applying pressure. "You know that can be very damaging." Anna remarked.

I smiled a little. "So I've heard."

Eva changed where she applied the pressure a couple of times and rolled my ankle around in my joint a couple of times.

"Done." She announced placing her hands on her lap.

"Seriously?" I asked amazed.

"Try walking on it." She said with a smile.

I hopped off the bed and stood on one leg. Barely a twinge "Wow." I said amazed. "Thanks Eva!" I exclaimed reaching over to give her a hug.

She laughed. "Any time! Just remember, it's still injured it just doesn't hurt, so be careful. Not feeling pain can be a dangerous thing, believe me."

"Alright girls, lets do this! Everyone get your laptops!" Kim exclaimed over all the conversations. Anna and Eva went to go get their laptops and I situated myself on my bed.

We all ended up in wonky places across the room. Eva and Anna were on my bed with me, Courtney and Kim were with Liz on her bed, Tina was with Macey on her bed and Mick was with Bex lounging on her bed.

"Now, this might get intense, Cam will you lock the door?" Liz asked. As she began to explain I quickly shut and locked the door.

"Okay, you all know how to hack and you're all pretty good, this shouldn't be too difficult, but just remember this is the Gallagher main base and what we're doing here could get us in trouble so we can't leave any tracks and we can't trip any wires. Everybody clear on that?" Liz asked seriously and we all nodded. She continued.

"Good. Courtney, Kim and I are going to lead the way to make sure we're getting the information we want. Bex, you and Mick are going to clear away the destruction we leave in our path. Macey, you, Anna, and Tina are going to disable any traps and reset any trip wires that we accidentally hit. If an alarm goes off, warn us. If that does happen we have exactly fifty seconds to get out of there. Cam, you and Eva are going to wipe our trail. Everybody clear on what they're doing? Any questions?" I raised my hand. "Cammie?"

"What are we going to call this?" I asked with a innocent smile.

Liz just rolled her eyes. "Any real questions?"

"Hey, that is a real question." Macey defended.

"Yeah, we always name our operations." Bex agreed "Let's do something with Sanskrit!" She exclaimed.

"Why Sanskrit?" Courtney asked mystified.

"We all completed the Sanskrit lang extra cred assignment over the summer." Macey said like it was obvious.

"Almost everything we do now is in Sanskrit." Bex continued.

"FINE!" Liz exclaimed. "We'll call this set up... _Adya_." She finally named it. "Now, let's get this done." She said twisting her hair into a bun on the top of her head and we all followed her example.

"Everyone ready?" Kim asked and 9 bun headed girls nodded.

"Let's go." Liz ordered and we began.

We actually got it done rather quickly. It was a comforting feeling to be in the world of hacking. No one had to speak, each involved in their own task, and a mere twenty minutes later, our mission was a success.

"Oh. My. Word." Liz squeaked out silently.

"What?" Mick asked.

"Everybody get out, we've got the info downloaded. Cam, Eva, make sure we don't leave tracks then get out yourselves." Kim continued.

Less than a minute later we were all out of the web and we all turned to stare at our leading team.

"Well?" I asked breaking the silence.

Courtney, Kim, and Liz looked at each other then Liz looked out at us and said the one sentence that brought our mental sanity crashing down.

"We're going to Blackthorne."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Keep it up if you want more chapters(:**

Chapter 2

There was exactly three and half seconds of silence before we all exploded. Tina and Macey were the loudest, yelling about _packing_ and _outfits_ and _guys,_ while Bex and Mick looked psyched for a 'real challenge'. Liz, Kim, and Courtney all scoured the information for more answers, trying to find any sort of information. Eva looked like she was going to pass out, and in the midst of all this chaos, Anna and I just looked at each other. We didn't really need to say anything, our opinions could be read in our eyes. Our panic. I knew what she was thinking, because I was thinking the same thing. What did this mean? How long were we going to be there? How long were we going to be barbie dolls for our friends? Why were we going? Was this the cause of all this extra homework? Were we going straight to Blackthorne? Were they packing for us? A million unanswered questions hung between us, questions only wallflowers would bother to ask. It was going to be a challenge for the two of us, blending in is hard when you're one of 10 girls in a school full of boys.

Finally, Macey snapped out of her state of shock and stood up on her bed. She whistled loudly.

"Girls! Enough of this! We are Gallagher Girls and this is not how we behave." She berated. "We are going to handle this the same way we handle everything else, we are going to be aloof and calm. We are going to handle this the way we have been trained am I clear?"

We all murmured our agreement and she continued. "Now pull yourselves together, and let's all go down to dinner together without letting anyone become suspicious of us." She jumped off the bed and lead us into the hall.

Regaining our composure in just those few short steps I straightened my uniform as we entered the hall. I slowed down, leaving Anna and Eva to join Liz.

"So Lizzie, did you find anything helpful?" I murmured quietly, knowing what would happen in Macey heard me.

"Not a thing, still searching though." She replied patting her laptop.

"Awesome. Keep me updated?" I asked.

She nodded and I went forward to talk to Bex.

"So Bexie, quite the shock wasn't it?" I whispered when I reached her side. I don't usually call her Bexie, but she says more when she's mad and that's one thing that will definitely make her mad. Well, that and calling her Rebecca, but I'm not suicidal.

"I'm bloody shocked. Why on earth would they send us to bloody Blackthorne of all places. Why not just send us into Russia or...some other bloody dangerous country. Do they not realize they're sending us into enemy territory?"

"What makes Blackthorne enemy territory?" I asked, genuinely curious to see what she thought.

"Think about it Cam, we're going to be competing for the same jobs, the same missions. We're going to pit ourselves against each other our whole careers. Not to mention that little 'secret' we found out about their curriculum not too long ago." She explained.

"What little 'secret'?" Mick asked.

"Later, when we can tell everyone." I said waving her off. "True, I guess maybe this is there way of...preparing us for the future. Showing us what the Blackthorne Boys can do before sending us out there against them." I reasoned.

"Maybe Cam…" She said thoughtfully, but she seemed pretty set on her one opinion. "But mark my words, the Blackthorne Boys are dangerous and so is their school. We'd all better watch our backs as soon as we get there and not stop until we reach Gallagher once more."

I nodded at her carefully, then let myself trail back to the edge of the group to think over what she said. It made sense if you think about it, I mean the Blackthorne Boys are kind of our enemies, and going to their school would be dangerous. I guess I just couldn't imagine them hurting us, technically we were supposed to be allies. A voice from the back of my head berated me. ' _Careful Cammie.'_ My Aunt Abby's voice came to me with words of wisdom. ' _You can be a little naive sometimes my darling and it will be your downfall. You always want to think the best of people, which is a great trait if you're a civilian. But guess what? You're not. Stay on your toes squirt. Constant vigilance is the key to your survival.'_

Aunt Abby's voice usually came to me when I was about to do something stupid. Not just dangerous, but really really stupid. It was kind of like a conscience or a compass and when her voice popped up, I knew I'd better rethink my thoughts. That's what I did now.

Okay, the Blackthorne Boys were training to be assassins, which is, in case you couldn't guess, really dangerous. They could decide to use us as practice targets at any time, and it's safe to assume that they each owned at least one gun, which is, again, really dangerous. The girls and I would have to prepare to protect ourselves and each other. This was no longer a game and I don't really think it ever would've been just an exchange. It was time to toughen up, and prepare for anything.

We marched in the doors for dinner and I crossed to my usual place beside Macey, across from Liz, who was next to Bex.

We all waited for announcements to pass (nothing worth note), waited for our food to be served (pasta with chicken and salad), and waited for the usual hum of chatter to start before we spoke to one another.

"How long until it's time to go?" Macey asked.

"Fifty-nine minutes and forty two seconds." I replied before shoving a bite of food in my mouth.

She sighed. "Remind me of what we know." She addressed Liz.

"We are going to...you know where sometime in the near future. We are to meet on the roof with six others in fifty eight minutes. Nothing further to report." Liz said disappointed.

"Anything to add, Bex?" Macey asked.

"This sucks." She said around a mouth full of chicken.

"I agree." I said poking my head up momentarily.

"Do we know if anyone from any other grade is coming?" Macey asked.

"I guess we'll find out in fifty eight minutes." Liz said with a sigh.

The rest of the meal passed slowly. Very very very slowly. We chatted about the amount of homework we had left (Liz and Macey had finished today which made me and Bex groan), then we discussed what we were going to learn that year (at least what we thought we were going to do that year). We talked about summer and what we did then we talked about our plans for winter vacation. Finally, finally, dinner was over and it was time to meet Solomon on the roof.

We staggered how we left, so no one would get suspicious if all ten of us got up at once to leave. It was Macey and Eva's idea. Tina, Eva, and Kim left first. Mick and Anna followed four minutes later with Courtney leaving 45 seconds after. The four of us were last. We waited an agonizing five minutes before walking leisurely from the room then sprinting for the roof as soon as we were out of sight. As calculated, we arrived at 7:59:54, a mere six seconds before Mr. Solomon would appear.

At eight o'clock on the dot, the roof door opened and two figures appeared. One was obviously male, Solomon, and the other was obviously female, probably my mom. As they appeared in the light we saw that I was correct and my mom was with Solomon. That made sense, I mean we were leaving the campus for an exchange, the Headmistress should probably be there to see us off.

"Nicely done ladies." Solomon complimented.

"Tonight ladies, we send you off on one of the hardest missions of your school days. We are sending you to The Blackthorne Academy for Boys for a semester. You will live on their campus, take their classes, learn what they do, and you will have remain on top of your studies at Gallagher at well." My mom said. Solomon raised an eyebrow when none of us reacted. My mom continued. "You leave in a week, however tonight you will leave to go and prepare yourself for the next semester. Mr. Solomon will accompany you to Blackthorne and will remain there with you. Any questions?"

"Who's going to be teaching Cove Ops?" Macey asked.

"Madame Dabney will fill in for Mr. Solomon while you girls are away. Any more questions?"

I wanted to know where we were going tonight but I knew she wouldn't tell us. I wanted to know where Blackthorne was too but I knew she wouldn't tell us that either. So I asked a question I knew she would answer.

"Will we be there for a Blackthorne semester or a Gallagher semester?" I asked.

"A Blackthorne Semester. They are shorter so you will still have a week and a half of classes when you return to Gallagher so it's very important that you stay caught up on your studies." My mother answered. "Any other questions?" She asked not really expecting an answer.

"Are you packing for us or are you going to give us time to pack?" Bex asked.

"That will be answered later this evening." Was the vague answer.

"Let's go." Solomon said not giving anyone else a chance to ask a question. He spun on his heel and led us down the steps.

We quickly and quietly exited the school and went down to the courtyard where one of the school's limos waited. I guess we weren't going for stealth.

"Why did they take us to the roof if we were just going to drive off anyway?" Bex mumbled to me.

"No idea." I replied just as quietly.

We climbed into the vehicle, still quiet, and as soon as the door shut we burst into whispers.

"A whole semester? How long are their semesters?" Came Eva from my right.

"Where are they taking us?" Tina asked from across from me.

"Do the others know where we're going?" Mick wondered.

"Why?" I asked louder than the rest and everyone fell silent to look at me. "Why are they sending us now? I mean, I know an exchange goes both ways but they would've sent girls last semester when they came if that was the case." I explained my question.

"I guess that's one of the things we'll just have to find out." Liz said gravely with a wince.

"So many questions, and not enough answers. We may have to take this into our own hands." Kim said making eye contact with Courtney and Liz.

"Wait until we reach our destination, no one wants to do this now." Courtney said laying her head down onto Tina's lap.

I reflected that and leaned back on the seat in sync with Bex. She lay her head down on my shoulder and I laid my head down onto her head. It looked like it was going to be a long drive.

Now, let me tell you something about Bex. She is not a quiet person. Not. At. All. She always has something to tell you, or a joke to make, or a question, or some comment that just can't wait until later so going anywhere with Bex is always...interesting to say the least. Most people are irritated by it, but I knew it calmed her down when she was nervous, so I let her talk.

"Cammie?" She asked quietly. Our practically silent conversation blended in with all the other whispers going on.

"Yeah, Bex?" I replied.

"Where do you think we're going?"

"Probably somewhere to prepare for the exchange."

"Do you think we'll get to go shopping?"

"Maybe."

"Do you think, if they let us go shopping, they'll give us enough money to placate Macey?"

"Hopefully."

"You're really pretty Cammie."

"Thanks Bex. You're really pretty too."

"Thanks. Do you think they're going to teach us to use weapons."

"Probably. It seems like it would be part of their curriculum."

"Yeah that's what I thought too. I'm kind of nervous to use a gun. Are you?"

"Yeah."

"You've used one before haven't you?"

"Of course. You have too."

"Yeah but that was just messing around with my parents this could be…"

"I know."

"Are you scared Cam?" I was terrified, but if I told her that then she would tell me she was scared and I can't handle that.

"Not really." Not a total lie.

"Me either. Maybe a little."

"What are you afraid of?"

"I don't know yet...just a general scared/excited feeling."

"Me too."

"How's your ankle?"

"Good. Better."

"Does it hurt very much?"

"No."

"Are you lying?"

"Nope."

"We probably should've had someone look at it before we left."

"Nah. I'm a tough cookie."

"Even cookies crumble."

"But this cookie has you looking after her. I'm good Bex, really."

"Let me know if it changes?"

"You'll be the first."

"Thanks. I'm going to miss Gallagher."

"Me too."

"A lot."

"Me too."

"Today was fun. We hardly ever train just you and me anymore."

"It was fun. We'll do it more."

"Okay. You wanna hear a funny joke?"

"How funny is it?"

"Very funny."

"You just came up with it didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Tell me."

"Okay, you ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay, what's brown and sticky?"

"What?"

"A stick." We broke into quiet giggles.

"That was so bad!"

"I knew you would like it."

"Sometimes I think you know me too well."

"Not possible."

"Probably not."

"Definitely not." I looked over and smiled at her.

"Okay, definitely not."

"I knew you'd see it my way."

"Like I said, you know me too well." She chuckled.

"How long do you think until Liz burns out?"

"She had at least eight hours of sleep last night, so at least another eight hours."

"That's what I was thinking. What about Mace?"

"About another hour." We giggled again.

"I want chocolate."

"Me too."

"Hershey's."

"It's the best." I agreed.

"I feel like there's some that's better."

"Probably."

"We should make it our goal in life to find the best chocolate we can."

"Agreed."

"Pinky Promise?"

"Pinky Promise."

"I'm really tired Cam."

"Go to sleep. I'll wake you when we get there."

"You're just as tired as I am."

"You have no way of knowing that."

"I'm your best friend, of course I know."

"You should get some rest."

"So should you."

"I'm not going to sleep until you do."

"Well I'm not going to sleep."

"Well then neither am I."

"Okay."

"How long do you think we'll be in the car?"

"A little while longer."

"We should ask Solomon."

"You mean I should ask Solomon."

"Maybe."

"We're so far from the window though."

"I'll ask Tina to. Tina!" She said slightly louder.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Will you ask Solomon how long we'll be in here?"

"Already did, he said another few hours."

"Yuck. Thanks."

"Yep." She said laying back in her seat.

"Maybe we should try to sleep." I suggested.

"You hate sleeping in cars."

"But you love sleep. Come on, lay on my lap." I said and she laid down in a similar fashion to Courtney.

"You comfortable?" She asked.

"Yep. You?"

"Yeah. G'night Cam."

"Night Bex."

Slowly all around us the girls started laying down to try to sleep in the limo. I made eye contact with Macey from across the long car, and I knew she wouldn't be going to sleep either. It looked like it was just going to be me and her awake.

About fifteen minutes later, all the girls except for me and Macey were asleep. I knew she probably didn't want to talk, and I didn't really want to either. So it passed in silence. I busied myself playing with Bex's hair, or flexing my ankle, or just thinking about Blackthorne. To be honest, I was most nervous about seeing Zach, Grant, and Jonas again. I mean, we were friends when they came, but would they want us around or would they be embarrassed? It would be nice if we could reconnect with them, it would make Blackthorne much easier.

The girls around me slept practically silently, breaths puffing quietly from their noses or mouths and true to Tina's information approximately three hours later we reached our destination. It was about a few minutes to midnight when Mr. Solomon opened the back door and looked at us. I shook Bex awake and then nudged the others around me and they all popped right up.

Less than a minute later we were all alert and ready to go.

"Nicely done girls. We're approximately three and a half hours from Roseville, as I'm sure you're well aware. We're going to be spending the next week at this location. Please enter the building quickly and quietly and once we are inside you will be given further instructions."

We all filed out of the car in an orderly fashion, and we practically ran inside. We were impatient to figure out what we were going to do.

We had stopped at this huge fancy house, somewhere on the edge of a town. It looked like just a normal house on the outside but inside it was absolutely gorgeous. There was a fabulous grand entrance and you could see a stunning sitting room on one side and a music room on the other. A grand staircase lead upstairs and by the creak in the floors there was definitely a basement as well. I've never been more excited for an assignment.

Solomon was the last one in and he shut and locked the door behind him.

"Alright ladies, you have have the next week to prepare for Blackthorne. Somewhere in this house is a credit card for you to use to purchase whatever it is you need but I'm warning you know there aren't a lot of places to go shopping." He smiled a little at the thought. "At the end of the week I expect you to have everything packed and ready to go to Blackthorne. You may have five bags each. Not a single bag more."

"Does that include backpacks and/or purses?" Macey asked quickly.

He thought about it for a minute. "No. But remember you do need to purchase any and all school supplies because everything you have is back at the school and will stay there. Any other questions?"

"Do we have time to go out tonight and buy toothbrushes and such?" Eva asked.

"Yes. Curfew is a strict 11:00 pm. Somewhere on the property you will find a cellphone that has only one number in it that you can use to contact me in case of emergency."

"What about things that we...can't buy in a normal store?" Mick asked.

"There is a store room for you to choose from. Any other questions?" We all shook our heads. "Well then, good luck and good night."

He went towards the back of the house and we all huddled together. Macey began dishing out instructions.

"Alright. Let's split up. Cam, you and Bex and Liz go look upstairs for either the credit card or the phone. Mick, Eva, and Anna, you three look on this floor. Kim, Courtney, and I will look in the basement and Tina, will you look outside?" She nodded yes. "Awesome. If you find it call out which you found. As soon as both are found we'll head for town."

We all nodded our affirmatives and split off towards our respective floors.

Bex, Liz, and I quickly ran up the stairs. The stairwell opened to a gigantic hallway. Straight down the hallway there was a huge master bedroom with an ensuite, we found a huge king size bed, a super huge dresser and the bathroom was bigger than our dorm. We didn't find a thing in there. Next we went to the right of the staircase. There were four rooms down the right side of the hallway, each one was humongous, with a canopy bed and big closets. There was also a bathroom that could easily fit all ten of us while we tried to get ready in the morning. There was nothing in there. The left side of the hallway yielded similar results except there were only three slightly larger bedrooms, one of which had a bathroom attached. None of the rooms held either of the items.

We went back down the stairs empty handed to see Macey, Tina, Kim, and Courtney.

"Oh, there you guys are. We were just about to call you down. We found them both. They were in the same place crazily enough. We have to run quickly to town because we have to be back in the house in ten minutes." Macey said as she lead us out the door and to the road.

"What about Mick, Eva, and Anna?" I asked as we began to run.

"Don't worry, I know what they need." Courtney said as we selected our pace.

"Weren't they on the main floor?" Bex asked.

"They were supposed to be, but we couldn't find them anywhere." Kim answered.

"Does anyone know where we're going?" Liz questioned.

"I do, I asked one of the neighbors for directions to the nearest convenience store." Tina answered.

"I hate running in our uniforms." Macey grumbled.

The store really wasn't that far, a little under a mile. We quickly ran into the store and without even pausing we each picked out a toothbrush, a big t-shirt, two of us bought toothpaste, and those who needed it bought other hygiene products. We found a couple of packs of underclothing that we needed, some travel soaps, and a few combs. We paid quickly and sprinted back to the house. We made it back to the house with twenty seconds to spare. We entered the house, our chests heaving.

Solomon sat on the bottom step, waiting for us. "Nicely done ladies. Now try to get to bed, you've got a lot to do this week."

We murmured our 'Yes sirs' and walked warily up the stairs. We found Mick, Eva, and Anna up in the master bedroom, waiting on the bench at the end of the bed.

"Well where did you three disappear to?" Kim asked as they came into sight.

"We wondered the same about you seven. Why didn't you come get us?" Mick challenged.

"We tried, we couldn't find you guys anywhere." Liz defended.

"Did you guys get us stuff for tonight?" Anna asked.

"Yeah." Bex said as we divided the stuff in the bags.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of exhausted. Can we go to bed?" I asked.

"Yes, who's sleeping where?" Tina agreed.

"We can fit two to a room. Unless you wanna split three, three, and four. Solomon's already claimed his. It's downstairs." Mick said doing the quick math.

"Tina, you wanna share with me?" Courtney asked.

"For sure." Tina replied. "You guys mind if we take this room?"

"Not if you mind sharing the bathroom when necessary." Macey answered.

The rest of us nodded in agreement with Macey.

"Can do." Courtney said as she took her stuff into the bathroom.

"Well, Kimmy, you wanna share with me?" Anna asked.

"Sure thing. Can we just go pick a room?" Kim inquired turning to the rest of us.

"Go for it." Mick said and we all nodded in agreement.

"I call Cammie!" Liz exclaimed grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet.

"You can't call Cammie, I get Cammie by default." Bex argued climbing up with us.

"I think I should get Cammie." Macey said as she also stood.

"Shouldn't Cammie get a say in this?" They ignored my statement.

"Why should you get Cammie?" Liz asked.

"Because you guys have been her room mates longer, I haven't been able to spend as much time with Cammie." She defended, crossing her arms.

"Well if we're making claims, I should claim that I've known her the longest so it only makes sense that we're together." Bex said.

"How does that make sense?" Macey asked turning to her.

"I know Cammie best, I know how to maneuver around her without causing conflict."

Mick and Eva slowly backed out of the room. 'Take me with you' I mouthed after them and they shook their heads like they'd rather jump in between a great white shark and a killer whale. It would probably be safer.

"Please, sharing a bed with Cammie requires no maneuvering. Like at all. That's the point of sharing a bed with Cammie." Liz pointed out.

"I still think that I should room with Cammie, your argument just proves I'm right." Macey claimed, pointing at Bex.

Liz pressed a hand to my arm and when Macey and Bex were good and distracted she whispered 'Run.' and we took off down the hall.

It took Macey and Bex only a few seconds to realize what was happening to follow us but by the time they reached us Liz had already pulled me into an empty room and slammed the door shut.

"That was close!" Liz exclaimed.

"Why do you guys want to room with me so bad?" I asked.

"You're so nice and quiet. You don't take up very much space either and you're not a bed hog. You're the best to share a room with." Liz explained.

"Well I can't complain, you're great to share with. Can we get ready for bed now?" I asked.

"Definitely." Liz said warily.

We slipped out of our uniforms and into the large t-shirts that we bought. Mine went down to my knees. I quickly crossed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth before hurrying back to the room I shared with Liz and climbing into bed.

"Okay so I've come to a conclusion." Bex said entering the room. "Where's Liz?" She asked.

"Bathroom." I replied shortly as I snuggled into the blankets.

"Well don't go to sleep yet, this involves you." She said going to get Liz.

"Bex I found her!" Macey called as she entered the room with an upset looking Liz being dragged behind her.

"Okay so Liz, we have an idea. What if we rotate nights with Cammie. You have her tonight, me tomorrow, and Macey the night after and then we just kinda pass her around. That way we all get at least one good night's sleep." Bex proposed.

"I feel like the toy that everyone wants. Or the last swing at the playground." I commented.

"And how does that feel?" Macey asked with a smile.

"Not so good." I replied. "Can I go to sleep now?"

"Sure." Liz said as she turned back to Macey and Bex. "Are we sure this is a really good idea?"

"Absolutely…" They continued their discussion as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, keep it up and chapters will come faster.**

Chapter 3

The next morning I rose with the rising sun which is not as poetic as it sounds. It actually sucked, majorly. Now if I had my choice I would have slept much longer but with ten teenage girls in the house and nothing to wear, restlessness sets in quickly and must be put out.

Liz and I slumped down the stairs towards the sound of voices. We made our way into the kitchen and discovered there was absolutely no food to be found and by the sound of it, we weren't the only ones who knew this and the others were getting impatient.

"Finally!" Bex exclaimed as Liz and I came into view. It seems we were the last ones asleep.

"Now can we go find food?" Kim complained.

"Where? And in what? You wanna go search in our t-shirts?" Macey replied irritably.

"Where's Solomon?" I asked running a hand through my ragged hair.

"No clue." Tina replied.

"Okay then let's throw our uniforms on long enough to find food and something to wear." I suggested.

"The uniforms disappeared overnight." Courtney informed me.

"And homework was in it's place." Added Mick.

"Solomon." I growled.

"Okay then, we get creative. Take out anyone?" Liz asked.

"It's like nine in the morning." Tina pointed out.

"So what? We can get food and then maybe I can think." Kim growled.

"I'll go grab my laptop and be right back. We have the credit card still right?" Liz clarified.

"Yeah and the cellphone." Anna confirmed but she was already gone.

"Okay, I'm gonna go work on homework." I said turning back to the dining room where I vaguely remembered seeing stacks of paper.

"Why?" Bex asked.

"Cause I've got nothing better to do."

"Wanna come on a run?" Mick asked.

"In what?" I replied.

"Dang it. I'll come with you guys."

We sighed when we saw stacks and stacks of paper with our names on it.

"Oh how nice, we each get our own stack." Bex grumbled.

"Well, we've got plenty of time and nothing else to do. Bet I can get more done than you." I challenged with a gleam in my eye. A race was the only way Bex and I were going to get anything done.

"Oh, you're so on." We both grabbed our stacks and headed for the living room.

We crashed onto the floor and set the stacks next to us, each of us grabbing the first thing on top. We quickly settled into our rhythm, we plowed through worksheets and set aside essays. Anything that would take longer than 15-20 minutes was set aside for later and by the time food arrived, we were both through a week's worth of busy work.

"Ow. My head." Bex groaned rubbing her eyes.

"My hand." I complained flexing my wrist.

"You two are nuts, how far did you get?" Mick asked.

"I'm done through next Monday's COW assignment." Bex gloated.

"Nice. I'm done through next Monday's C&A assignment." I was up by one assignment. I grinned then turned to Mick. "How far are you?"

"Practically done with Friday." She revealed as she climbed to her feet. "Like I said, you two are nuts." She grinned at us then pulled me to my feet.

"And proud of it babe. After food I'm gonna come back and and finish the month out." Bex said confidently.

"So will I." I agreed as I pulled her to her feet. "But I'll also have an essay finished."

Bex snorted. "Then I'll have two."

"In your dreams Baxter."

"You're on Morgan."

"You're both going down, I plan on plowing you." Mick said jumping into our argument.

"Pfft, you may be an opponent in the Gym but I'll cream you when it comes to essay. Liz gave me a short cut." I retorted.

"I have that same short cut, and I'm better at it." Bex put in.

"Would you three knock it off so we can eat?" Macey said pushing a box of pizza towards us.

"Food!" I exclaimed diving forward and grabbing a slice.

We ate in silence for a few minutes but unfortunately with food cam Bex's insatiable energy. It started small, with just a little leg bounce.

"So what are we doing after food?" Bex asked.

"We're working on homework so we have less to do when we get to Blackthorne." I reminded her.

"Well yeah that's what we're doing but what about the rest of you guys?" Bex questioned again.

"Tina and I are hopping online to get stuff for school. Liz, Kim, and Courtney and trying to hack into Blackthorne. Anna and Eva are taking inventory of what's in the basement." Macey said ticking the groups off her fingers.

"We're gonna join you to work on homework when we're done." Anna put in across the counter.

"Rock on. Still no word from Solomon?" I asked.

"Not one. We're just gonna go with the flow." Tina informed us.

"Cool." Bex said as her leg bounce grew to include both legs.

"Do we have a plan on getting clothes yet?" Courtney asked.

"I think we're just going to have to order them. There's nothing else we can do." Macey sighed.

"We can always just go out in our t-shirts. I don't mind." I suggested.

"Like I said. Nothing else we can do." Macey said ignoring my suggestion completely.

"Okay then." Anna mumbled and we grinned at each other. We would probably sneak out to get clothes anyway.

"No, you're not going to sneak out and get clothes anyway." Kim said addressing Anna and I. We made eye contact once more and agreed to discuss it later.

"I think we need to put someone on wallflower watch." Courtney suggested surveying Anna and I.

"I think you're right." Macey agreed watching me with her all knowing eye.

"Mick and I will watch Cammie." Bex volunteered.

"I'll keep an eye on Anna." Eva said raising her hand slightly.

Anna and I exchanged an exasperated look.

"Don't argue Cammie, this is for your own good." Liz said reaching for my hand.

I exhaled harshly. "I'm gonna go work on homework." I said getting to my feet with Bex and Mick right on my heels. I stopped and turned to look at Anna with an eyebrow raised. She saluted me and I returned the gesture with a small smile.

We returned to our system. For the rest of the day we switched between working on homework and eating food. Occasionally we took a break to get updates on what everyone else was doing, but before too long almost everyone had dropped their previous activities and joined us in our quest to finish our homework. Bex, Mick, and I finished worksheets and other assignments up to the end of next month before switching to essays. By the end of the night, everyone was at least on October's assignments and had one essay done. By 'end of the night' I mean around midnight when we were too exhausted to see straight.

"I never want to see another assignment again." Eva groaned rubbing her eyes.

"Well hate to break it to you but we're barely halfway done." Macey sighed as we looked at our pile of completed work in the middle of the table.

"My brain feels fried." Kim admitted.

"Mine too." Courtney agreed.

"Same." Liz put in. We all stared in shock. Even the brightest of us were completely over doing homework.

"Well, I take that as a sign that we should stop for the night and go to bed." Anna yawned.

"Do we have anything else we can do tomorrow? Literally, anything. I'm desperate." I begged.

"Well I'm sure we can find something pointless to do tomorrow." Macey said.

"What do we have for school so far?" Bex asked.

"We already told you." Tina pointed out.

"I forgot. Remind me." Bex complained resting her head on my lap. I stroked her hair aimlessly as Tina went over the list.

"Well, they're giving us uniforms there so we didn't order any clothes."

"That will be rectified tomorrow." Macey said cutting Tina off. Tina gave a glare. "Sorry, continue."

"We ordered bags to carry our things, writing utensils, basic hygiene products, basic pajamas, simple makeup, and other basic necessities." Tina finished.

"How about we spend tomorrow making that a little more personalized?" Eva suggested with a gleam in her eye.

"What like personalized stuff?" Mick asked.

"Well yeah, but then stuff like custom jewelry or monogrammed pajamas. We're supposed to be rich heiresses right?" Eva explained.

"I don't think we need to keep our cover up at Blackthorne." Liz mentioned.

"We always need a cover. Always. I think it's a good idea." Bex put in.

"I'll go with it." I agreed.

"Anything to get me out of homework for a while." Liz nodded her head in agreement.

"Hey do you techs think you can get into Blackthorne's site so we can see the uniforms? I want to see how to accessorize them." Macey asked Liz, Kim, and Courtney.

Liz snorted. "What kind of question is that? Of course we can."

"What's down in the basement? Anything useful?" I asked.

"You'll have to see it to believe it, they have everything." Eva said wide eyed.

"Okay, so tomorrow's plan is to buy everything we need to keep our cover and to avoid homework right?" Mick clarified, recapping our conversation.

We voiced our confirmations.

"We're done here? Good, come on Cam we're going to bed." Bex asked without waiting for an answer.

"I thought I had Cammie tonight!" Macey voiced her protest.

"Nope, you get her tomorrow." Liz reminded her as Bex pulled me up the stairs and into the room she and Macey slept in the night before.

"Remind me to shower tomorrow." I mentioned to her before both collapsed on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning came too early. Once again we were up with the sun but it didn't take long for us to gather around the kitchen counter. Liz, Kim, Courtney seemed to be completely focused on getting into the Blackthorne website, seeing as they didn't even glance up when we came in. Macey and Tina had a pad of paper between them each of them with a pen in hand. Mick, Eva, and Anna were organizing some papers on the table, a fact that did not escape Bex's notice.

"I thought the point of today was to avoid homework?" Bex questioned.

"We're just sorting through it, see how much we have left." Eva said offhandedly.

"Hey, will you two go down to the basement and see how much of this we have and if we have enough for everyone?" Macey asked tearing a piece of paper off the pad and handing it to me and Bex, not waiting for an answer.

Bex and I nodded anyway before grabbing the sheet and headed for the stairs. We tumbled down the stairs then stopped dead in our tracks.

"Whoa." Bex let out and I could only nod in agreement.

There was everything a teenage spy could ever need. There were your basics like com units, knock out patches, tear gas, utility belts, and gloves but then there were some fancier things. Some of the com units were wireless, there were stilettos with extra spiky points for fighting, bags and other normal looking things with tons of hidden compartments, and about a million other incredible things.

"We should get looking." I said as I tried to take in everything at once.

"Yeah...what's first?" Bex asked looking over my shoulder at the list.

"Here." I said ripping the list in half and giving one of the halves to her.

"Cool...do they really expect us to need all this stuff?" Bex asked as she read it over.

"Better to be safe than sorry." I mentioned as I went over my own half.

Some of the stuff on the list was pretty crazy though. I was in charge of finding lock picking pocket knives, lipstick lasers, industrial mirror compacts, fingerprinting compacts, regular compacts, industrial hair ties, switchblades, disguised switchblades, tear gas, capsulized tear gas, finger-less gloves, regular gloves, latex gloves, velvet protected pouches, and heavy duty reusable cotton hand wraps.

Bex's half of the list was shorter. She was looking for invisible ink, evapo paper, bugs (both audio and video), motion sensors, signal jammers, utility belts, scopes (daylight and nighttime), repel sets, and hollow coins.

We searched in silence, we were both pretty intent on getting what we needed and getting out. We started a pile by the stairs and it quickly became too big for us to carry.

"Hey have you seen any hollow coins down here?" Bex asked from across the room. "It's the last thing on my list."

"Yeah they're in the cupboard on the left." I said pointing to the far wall. "Have you seen lock picking pocket knives?" I asked.

"Yeah they're in the box by the corner. You need help?" She asked adding a box of hollow coins to the pile.

"Nah that was my last thing. We are gonna need help getting this upstairs though." I said gesturing to the mass in front of us.

"How about we pack it into those empty boxes?" Bex said gesturing to the massive boxes that used to hold the utility belts.

"Will it all fit?" I asked doubtfully.

"Most of it will." I looked around the room once more.

"We can dump out what's in those boxes over there and use them too. I think there's just regular tool kits in them." I suggested.

"Sounds good." Bex agreed.

We quickly emptied the boxes and packed up our mass of tools. In the end we had four decent sized boxes that were full. Getting enough for ten girls had been quite the adventure.

"How long have we been down here?" Bex asked, as if she didn't know.

"A couple hours." I replied.

"That explains why my stomach keeps growling…" She said looking down at her stomach.

I grinned. "I can take a hint, let's get these boxes upstairs then we can eat."

She made a face at the boxes but went to grab two of the boxes before starting up the stairs. I quickly grabbed the other two before following her up the stairs, wincing slightly when I put pressure on the ankle I rolled. I had almost forgotten I injured it.

"Alright, supply's have been gathered. Catch us up." Bex announced as we entered the kitchen.

"Put the boxes on the table then come here." Macey said, phone in hand.

We followed our instructions dutifully and returned just in time to hear Macey finish ordering lunch.

"We're having Chinese for lunch? I seriously hope you got like a million orders of egg rolls." Bex said excitedly.

Macey smiled. "Don't worry Bex, I ordered with you in mind. You guys got everything on the list?" She gestured toward the boxes.

"Yep. One for everything for each of us. What have you guys been up to?" I asked plopping down on the stool next to Macey's.

"Tina and I have been ordering customized matching things for all of us. Liz and the others are still trying to find what our uniforms look like, apparently their database is very poorly organized." Macey explained.

"What have you guys ordered so far?" Bex asked as she chewed on a piece of cold pizza.

"Lots. Luggage tags, sweatshirts and pants, shorts for every occasion, t-shirts for sleeping and for exercise, leggings, tights, knee high socks, thigh high socks, jackets, coats, lotions, perfumes, hair care products, shampoos and conditioners, hair dryers, curling irons, straighteners, make up, brushes…" She listed. "Basically the only thing we haven't ordered is the luggage. We even sketched out a few designs for necklaces and bracelets to run by the other girls before we ordered them. Well, we need to know what the uniforms look like too. We're essentially done here."

"What about other clothes?" Bex mumbled as I sat there staring wide eyed. They'd gotten that all done in a couple hours?

"We're going to have to find a way to get to a mall to go shopping. There's no other option, it would be too difficult to shop for every person individually online for a whole semester. We'll have to talk to Solomon about it." Macey replied.

"Where is he?" I asked, jolting out of my trance.

"Still no word. No one knows." Macey said shaking her head.

"I'm going to poke around his room." I said climbing to my feet.

"I'm coming." Bex volunteered, putting her pizza down.

"We'll be back in a minute." I said to Macey as we wandered down the hall, she nodded in acknowledgement.

"I'm gonna go upstairs with the others." She called to our backs and we raised a hand.

We quickly made our way to Solomon's room and checked the lock. It was open so we carefully made our way into the space. I looked at Bex and without a word we got to work. I checked the bed and bedside table while Bex went over to the desk and dresser.

It didn't take long, there was basically nothing. I found a gum wrapper and some lint while Bex found dust and a blank sheet of paper, no imprints on it.

"Well that was pointless." I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"I'm going to check the bathroom." Bex announced as she crossed the doorway. She wasn't gone long.

"Anything?" I asked doubtfully.

"Not even a hair." She sighed. "Let's go find the others."

We walked defeated upstairs and joined everyone else in the master bedroom.

"Any success?" Macey asked as we came into view.

We shook our heads. "Anything on your end?" Bex asked.

"They think they've almost got it. They kicked us off the project a while ago." Eva said where she sat playing with Mick's hair.

"We really do almost-GOT IT!" Liz exclaimed excitedly and we all clambered around them on the bed to see our uniforms for the next semester.

"Oh."

"My."

"Word."

Every Gallagher girl in the room let out a cry of anguish. They were absolutely horrible. I mean, there have been years where the Gallagher uniforms have been iffy, but these were an abomination. They had what appeared to be skirts that went down half of our calves with old lady blouses complete with awful ruffles and pearl buttons. To add icing to the cake, the tie was not only old fashioned but a guys tie and the shoes! Oh heavens...don't even get me started on the shoes.

"This needs to be fixed. Now." Macey said, mouth in a line and eyebrows scrunched. She was in the zone.

Liz wordlessly opened the order form for editing and handed the laptop to Macey. The room was silent except for the sound of the keyboard clicking as Macey rectified the horrible mistake. We all waited breathlessly, the tension practically palpable. Macey was incredible with fashion but I don't see how she could fix this without scrapping the order form completely, which was not an option.

Approximately twenty minutes later Macey pushed the laptop away and sighed.

"Okay…" She sighed. "I'm done."

We all crowded around the screen to see what she had done. It shouldn't have been possible, the uniform was completely remade.

"And you...didn't create a new order form?" I asked in disbelief.

"Nope, it's the same one. I just changed the fabric type, and length, and style, and...well...everything." She explained.

I could see what she meant by everything. The once horrible skirt would now hang fashionably, and comfortably. The blouse was now modified to flatter our figures rather than hide them and the shoes were similar to what we wore at much could be said about the ties other than they looked like something we would actually wear. I don't know how she did it, but she did. The uniforms were cute.

"Macey you are a miracle worker." Tina exclaimed. "It's a shame we can't change the color though…"

"It's not so bad Tina." Mick said soothingly. "After all, black is the new black."

We all laughed and underneath the noise we heard the doorbell ring.

"FOOD!" Eva yelling running to get the door, with Courtney and Bex in her wake.

"Well, looks like we're just about ready for Blackthorne." I commented as Macey and I followed the crowd back down to the main floor.

"Yeah...I wonder if they're ready for us." Macey commented, a mischievous gleam in her eye and I knew, this semester wouldn't be so bad.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As we gathered the food from the delivery boy and transferred it into the kitchen, half a dozen new conversations broke out. Tina was describing the online shopping experience, and Macey was swearing that she would never shop another way again if she could avoid it. Bex was groaning about the homework we had yet to complete while Eva tried to make her stop bringing it up. Anna and Mick were deep in conversation about the gadgets in the basement, while Kim and Courtney groaned about the lack of tech nearby. Liz and I chatted about what Macey had managed to do with the uniforms, she really did perform a miracle. We paused in our conversations long enough to inhale about half the food we ordered, and before we could fall back into them Macey called us to focus.

"Alright girls, we have two days before our orders get here then we will have another two days to pack everything before making a fabulous entrance at Blackthorne that we've yet to plan. Talk to me." Macey announced.

"We need Solomon so we can go shopping for real clothes." Eva put out there.

"Step one, find Solomon. What comes next." Macey said summarizing as we discussed.

"We need to order luggage still." Tina pointed out.

"I have a good suggestion for great luggage." Mick put in before Macey could reply.

"Luggage will be ordered after lunch. Next." Macey said as she began to pace.

"We should all shower and work on as much Gallagher work as we can. Less to do at Blackthorne." I reminded everyone.

"Showers and homework will come after a plan to find Solomon." Macey said, we all mentally made a list.

"I wonder what happened to him." Courtney mused.

"Maybe he was kidnapped by terrorists." Tina suggested.

"Or maybe he spontaneously combusted." Eva said with a laugh.

"Wait wait wait, I got one. He ran away from the CIA to join a nudist colony." Tina exclaimed and she and Eva burst into laughter.

"Okay, I'm officially confused." Mick said throwing up her hands.

"This is a game we play, we call it "What could possibly happen" and it's how I come up with about ¾ of my rumors. It's a joke, it's actually quite a bit of fun." Tina explained.

"So a majority of your 'sources' are-" Bex began, but Tina cut her off.

"Eva mostly." She said with a smile.

"What so if we were at Gallagher you'd pick the weirdest suggestion then spread it around the school?" Macey asked.

"Yeah basically. I think the nudist colony would've won that time." Tina decided.

"Pfft please, a way weirder one is to say he was forced to leave the CIA because he was converting people to aforementioned nudist colony." I mumbled under my breath.

"Good one Cam." Tina said with a smile "That definitely would've taken the cake."

I felt strangely proud inside.

"I have an idea for how we can find Solomon, a real one." Kim said before anyone else could speak up.

"What is it?" Macey asked.

"We can call him." She said as if it were obvious, which I suppose it was.

"He said only in emergencies." Anna pointed out.

"Well, we're here alone and we kinda need to not be here." Courtney mentioned.

"I can classify shopping as an emergency. Give me the phone, we'll call now." Macey said holding out her hand, leaving no room for argument.

Liz grabbed the phone from where it sat and placed it gently on Macey's outstretched hand. She hit the only contact in the phone and held it to her ear before thinking better of it and putting it on speaker. We all crowded closer to the phone.

"Girls." Solomon's voice came from the speaker and we all looked at Macey to respond.

"Solomon." Macey replied shortly.

"What can I do for you?" He asked politely.

"You can start by telling us where you disappeared to." Bex grumbled.

"I'm just checking the preparations at Blackthorne to make sure they're ready for your arrival." He answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Where did our uniforms go?" Courtney asked confidently.

"I returned them to Gallagher." He replied.

"We need to get to an outlet mall of considerable size to make sure we're prepared for everything that could happen while we're at Blackthorne. To do that we need not only clothing to wear while we shop but a way to get to a shopping center." Macey explained.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to ask." I could hear him smiling through the phone. "The limo will be there tomorrow morning to take you to the nearest center at your standards, there will be clothing waiting for you inside. Can you handle the walk from the door to the car in your pajamas?" He teased.

"Yes." Macey replied through gritted teeth.

"Will we have more than one day to shop? What time will it be here?" Mick asked before Solomon could hang up.

"It will be there at 9:00 AM, whether or not you have it another day will depend on whether or not you need another day." Solomon replied.

"Thanks for everything Mr. Solomon. When will we see you again?" Bex asked.

"I'll be there to escort you to Blackthorne in four days time at 11:30 PM." He answered and since he was being so forthcoming I jumped at the chance to get more information.

"When will we arrive at Blackthorne? So we can plan accordingly." Bex said by way of explanation.

"Early morning." He replied.

"When do we get our Blackthorne uniforms?" Eva asked.

"The same day you arrive." A noise came through the background. A man's voice calling Solomon's name. "We'll speak later." Was all he said then the connection was cut.

"Okay, that went way better than I expected." Macey said when it was clear the conversation with Solomon was over.

"I can't believe how much he told us...usually he's all mystery and 'you'll see Miss Baxter'." Bex said in a horrible impression of Solomon's voice.

"Now that we have the information we need, let's plan." Tina said grabbing the same pad she had earlier.

"First, order luggage. Next, homework. As much as we can get done before midnight, and we all have to work as hard as we can, no slackers. Bed by midnight, up by seven, showers, and as much hair as we can manage with our minimal supplies. Then we shop until the mall closes." Macey spoke and Tina wrote everything down.

"Do you think we'll need to go back a second day?" Liz asked.

"Yes. We'll split in two groups, one with the card and another with the card's number so we can divide and concur. Everyone is going to need basically an entire wardrobe." Macey replied gesturing to Tina. "Tina and I will be group leaders. I'll take Bex, Liz, Cam, and Mick. That okay with you Tina?"

"Can I take Mick? I don't mind taking on an extra person." She asked as she glanced at the girls.

"You sure?" Macey asked.

"Absolutely."

"Well alright then, four and six. You guys can take the card, we'll get the number." Macey offered.

"Who gets the phone?" Kim asked.

"You guys take it, we'll take coms and we can all be connected that way." Tina suggested.

"Great idea. Am I missing anything?" Macey asked us as she looked around at each of the girls. We all shook our heads and she turned to Mick. "You had a suggestion for luggage?"

"Yeah, can I use your laptop?" Mick said turning to Kim, whose laptop was within reach.

"You can use mine." Tina said cracking open the computer and turning it towards Mick. "It's already up and the browser's going."

"Thanks." She typed in a website and turned to show us the webpage.

On the page was the most adorable vintage looking luggage set. It was mint green and hard cased but it looked like old vintage trunks.

"They have five piece and three piece sets. Something tells me we're going to need the five piece." Mick said with a smile.

"This is perfect." Macey said with a grin. "I'm going to order some for each of us. Anybody have a complaint?"

"How are we going to tell them apart?" Anna asked.

"They already ordered luggage tags." Liz reminded her.

"Right." Anna said shaking her head.

"Okay...ten five piece sets ordered. I paid extra for the express shipping but we need them here." Macey explained as she typed and clicked.

"Are all the orders going to get here the same day?" I asked incredulously.

"They're supposed to." Tina replied.

"What day are they supposed to get here?" Liz asked.

"In three days in the morning. If they get here when they're supposed to we'll have around 37 hours to pack." Macey informed us.

"That should be enough." Eva said thinking it through.

"Here's to hoping it gets here on time. I'm going to go start on my homework." Anna mumbled.

"Rematch?" Bex asked as we followed Anna to the living room.

"Sure, though I don't know why you're so eager to lose." I replied cheekily.

"Oh, you're on Morgan." Bex said taking her place across from me.

"Bring it." And we dove into the stack of work we still had to do.

Hours went by in a blur. COW, C&A, Languages, Math, Science, English, and even Cov Ops. I had never thought about how much work we really did in a semester. Worksheets, reading guides, study guides, quizzes, notes, and outlines. Words began to all blur together. Essays, summaries, paragraphs, and real life applications. Bex and I reached the halfway mark, still a few hours to work. Keep going. Everyone else went to bed but Bex decided to keep working, so I stayed with her. Early morning snack break. Back to work. Set aside study guides to go over again before we go back to Gallagher. Ignore more essays. Most teachers gave us busy work to make up for the lack of class time. Easy. Bex was about to pass out, finish the page and go upstairs. I looked over when I was done to see Bex nodding off. We weren't going to make it upstairs. I stopped fighting my drooping eyelids and collapsed on the floor next to Bex.

"Wake up sleepy heads." Liz's voice came gently.

I pried my eyes open. "Wha-what happened?" I mumbled sleepily.

"You two fell asleep on the floor again while working on homework. It's time to get up and get ready to go shopping." Liz explained quietly.

Bex groaned. "Do we have to?" She asked.

"Yes. If you don't hurry Macey's going to come down here." Liz reminded us with a little urgency.

"Can I shower?" I asked softly.

"Yes, you can use the shower next to Bex's room. No one's in there." Liz said offering a hand to help me up.

I climbed to my feet and nudged Bex with my foot. "Come on Bex, you can eat the rest of the chow mein while you wait to shower." I bribed.

"We have some left?" She asked her head popping up.

"Yeah it's in the fridge. I won't even make you heat it up first." I said as I gestured towards the kitchen.

"Okay." She quickly jumped to her feet and ran to the kitchen with Liz and I hot on her heels. She pulled the chow mein out of the fridge then handed me the broccoli and beef.

I thanked her and grabbed us each a fork. We ate on our way up stairs and quickly maneuvered our way into the bathroom by Bex's room. I handed her what was left of the chinese in my container with strict instructions not to eat it. She nodded before making her way into the bedroom.

I quickly shed my clothing and turned on the shower. As soon as it was hot enough I let the steamy water run over my skin. After locating the shampoo and conditioner I scrubbed my head and grabbed the bar of soap. The shower was over quickly, I was eager to get more food. I jumped out of the shower and dried myself. I reluctantly changed into the same thing I was wearing earlier before running one of the combs through my hair. I opened the door slowly, expecting to see the same tornado of girls running from one place to another that was in the halls earlier but found nothing. I took advantage of the lull and ran into the room where Bex waited.

"Okay, I'm done. The bathroom is all yours." I informed her, towel drying my hair.

"Thanks. Here's your food. I'll be back in a few." She said dropping the chinese food onto the dresser nearby before making her way to the bathroom.

I quickly grabbed the room temperature food and downed what was left in the container.

Macey's towel wrapped head popped into the doorframe.

"Hey Cam, glad to see you're up and ready. Where's Bex?" She inquired.

"Shower. She should be out soon." I informed her.

"Brilliant. We're leaving in fifteen minutes, ready or not." She reminded me. I saluted and she let out an exasperated sigh before leaving to check on the others.

Mere seconds later, Bex appeared. "Hey, Macey looks like she's about to have a heart attack. Everything okay?"

"I think so. Someone must've been asleep when she checked on them or something." I said as I grabbed one of the com units someone set on the bed side table. Probably Liz.

"You ready for this?" Bex asked as she tossed her towel in the corner.

"Yeah, you?" I replied with a weary smile.

"I think so. Hand me that?" She asked gesturing to the com unit as she began to detangle her hair. I grabbed the com unit and went to help her with her hair.

"Geez...Why is your hair so thick?" I mumbled as I tried to straighten it with my fingers.

"Pfft like your hair isn't just as thick." She said as she yanked out a particularly large knot.

"My hair isn't curly so it's easier to manage." I pointed out as I continued to comb through her hair the best I could.

"True. Where do you think Macey's going to drag us today?" She asked.

"Everywhere. Do you think she had Liz create a schedule?" I asked with a small smile.

"She did." Liz said crossing into the room. She took one look at Bex's tangled hair and began to help us fix it.

"So Lizzie, where are we headed today?" Bex asked.

"Some pretty good stores, some less desirable ones. American Apparel, Go Jane, Charlotte Russe, everyone's favorite underwear store, Forever 21, H&M, and Deb. Tomorrow we hit Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch, Macy's, Dillard's, and any shoe stores she can find." Liz explained as Bex's hair began to resemble hair again.

"Wow...how long is the mall open?" I asked, slightly scared.

"Twelve hours...don't worry though, we have 45 minutes for each meal as well as regular snack breaks so shopping won't be the only thing we do, not to mention we don't know how far we're going. Plus we aren't planning on staying the whole day tomorrow, Macey wants to come home early and start sorting and folding things for when the luggage gets here." Liz comforted us as best she could.

"We better get downstairs." I said as Bex's hair was finally knot free.

"Truth. Let's go." Bex said throwing the comb down.

We tumbled down the stairs and met the other girls by the front door. Macey did a headcount to make sure everyone was there before ushering us all out of the door.

"Alright Ladies, we've got a long day ahead of us, let's go." Macey yelled over the conversations as we filed out the door.

"Here comes the limo. Right on schedule." Anna called as the long vehicle came into view.

"Perfect. Now as long as there are outfits in there like he promised, today shouldn't be too bad." Macey said running a hand through her hair.

We all quickly made our way to the sidewalk and pulled opened the door to the limo. We piled our way in and found that there were indeed outfits waiting for us. There were sheets of paper with our names on top of piles of clothing on each seat. I found mine in between Bex and Liz's. I went over what was in my pile before I began to change. There was a floral one shoulder dress that would easy to take off and put on. It came with a brown belt and matching brown ankle boots. Simple and chic, perfect.

Each of the girls quickly shed the extra large t-shirts and switched into the clothes that were provided for them. Everyone was in a type of dress or skirt that was easy to remove seeing as we were going to be trying on different types of clothing. As I glanced around the car, I saw that each of our outfits went together without being matchy.

"Anyone else doubting that Solomon picked these out?" I asked as I pulled the dress over my head.

"Oh there's absolutely no way Solomon did this himself. He probably asked your mom to do it." Macey commented.

"I agree." Bex said, poking her head out of her top.

"Okay, so do we know how long the drive is?" Liz asked.

"I'll ask." Tina said from where she sat near the driver. She tapped on the window and relayed the answer when it was received. "Looks like we're in here for two hours."

"Well then, we better get comfortable." Bex said as she threw her legs up on the seat across Liz's lap and rested her head on my lap.

"Well okay then…" Liz said before pulling out her laptop and tapping away at it.

I looked at Macey a question in my eyes. Was Bex really asleep already? Macey leaned forward and checked Bex's eye reaction then nodded a confirmation, she really fell asleep that quickly.

There was absolutely no way I was going to fall asleep on this car ride but that didn't mean I couldn't relax. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, letting the conversations float around me. Macey and Eva discussed what was necessary to purchase, Tina and Mick talked about what stores they were going to go to and when, Courtney and Anna discusses how they could get out of buying heels, while Kim followed Bex's example and fell asleep.

Approximately two hours later the car pulled to a stop. I nudged Bex and told her we had arrived. Moments later, we were standing at the entrance to one of the best places to be a pavement artist. A mall filled with teenage girls.

"Okay it looks like it's pretty crowded here today so be careful and don't let your guard down. We'll meet up for lunch in an hour and a half." Macey instructed.

"Let's split." Tina said as she broke off with Mick, Courtney, Kim, Anna, and Eva.

"See you guys." I said as we went in a completely different direction.

"What's first?" Bex asked as soon as we were out of earshot.

"Dresses from Go Jane." Macey instructed as she quickly consulted the map of the mall before leading the way.

We quickly located the store and as soon as we set foot in the doors, I knew this store was not going to make me happy.

"Okay, we're looking for casual dresses. Four each, then we can go." Macey explained. "Each dress, however, needs to be approved. Sorry to burst any plans but it's necessary if we're going to survive this next semester."

We split off. I quickly and efficiently scanned the racks and found a chevron dress with ¾ sleeves that went to mid thigh and plenty of colors. One down, three to go. Bex appeared to have found a dress too, a black and cream lace cut-out dress that would look great on her. Liz had an adorable white sundress in hand that had light floral design on the bodice. Macey was surveying an incredible black and gold dress but she didn't look sure of it. Enough watching, keep searching. I reminded myself and I turned my eyes back to the racks.

45 minutes later, our task was complete. I had the Chevron dress, a black dress cut in a similar style, a girlier pink dress, and a grey sweatshirt dress. Bex had her black and cream one, a red one, a black one, and a stunning navy blue dress. Liz had picked two white dresses, a baby pink one, and a black one. Macey decided to get the black and gold dress, a turquoise dress, a plain black one, and a silver one.

"Well, that was fun. Let's go home." I said hopefully.

"Cam, it hasn't even been an hour." Bex pointed out.

I groaned.

"Come on Cam, it's not that bad. Besides, now there's one less store to go to." Liz said linking arms with me.

"Do we have to?" I whined.

"Yes. Come on, we can get through Forever 21 before lunch if we hurry. Their store on this site is ridiculously small." Macey marched off in another direction and I woefully followed behind.

The store _was_ ridiculously small, but Macey was not deterred. She managed to find us all several pairs of shorts (like the insanely short ones), crop tops, regular t-shirts, and even a few of those cardigan sweater hybrids that were big and comfortable.

By the time we left to go meet the other girls for lunch, I was incredibly done with shopping. As much fun as it is to try on what seriously could be endless amounts of clothing with my friends, I'm more of a 'hey let's all go for a swim then watch a movie' kind of person.

We found the others after buying something greasy and delicious from the food court, I made a beeline to sit by Anna while Macey went to talk to Tina and Bex and Liz went to sit where Kim and Eva had left spots for them.

"You up for an escape?" I questioned Anna as I sat across from her.

"Please. I'm dying. You should see some of the things Tina's made me buy." Anna begged.

"I know the feeling. So do you have any idea's on how to get out?" I asked.

"None. They're watching me like a hawk. I tried to escape from the bathroom but they weren't having it. I think we might be stuck." She explained.

I groaned. "I don't know if I can take two days of this. Will you push me down the stairs?" I asked only slightly kidding.

"No way, then I'll still be stuck with them and I'll be alone." She rejected the idea.

"Well then I'm out of ideas. How much longer are we going to be here?" I asked as I slowly picked at my food.

"Hours." She said dead serious and I groaned.

"How many stores have you guys made it through?" I asked her.

"Three." We both winced. "You?"

"Only two." I said, a plea for help in my eyes. She flinched for me.

"I'm so so sorry." She said earnestly.

"I don't know if I can do this." I replied honestly.

"Yes, you can. And you will. I on the other hand, will be dead before the day is out." She dropped her head into her hands.

"No, we have to do this. We have to prove that we are just as capable of shopping. We have to do this if only so we can succeed at Blackthorne." I whispered to Anna. "Not only are we going to do this, we're going to do it better than anyone else."

She looked at me, a new fire in her eyes. We held eye contact, a new resolve building. She nodded and we shook hands. A promise to not give up.

"You girls ready to go?" Macey asked as she and the others stood.

We made eye contact once more. Anna answered for the both of us.

"Born ready. Let's do this." We gave each other one more parting glance before turning and walking towards the next challenge...er, dropped off our bags in the Limo before heading back into the mall

American Apparel meant jeans in every style and cut. Charlotte Russe brought dozens and dozens of shirts in dozens of different styles and cuts and skirts to match. A few more dresses too, just for fun. Break time, dinner. Only three stores left today. A trip to the Limo to drop off the bags. We hit everyone's favorite underwear store before it could close and bought more than I've ever owned in my life. Next was H&M for blazers and more pants with a handful of shirts. Last store, Deb. Apparently it was essential we each got one fancier dress. Shirts and other outfits were only the secondary goal. One last stop at the food court before our last trip to the Limo.

"I have never been so exhausted in my life." Eva groaned as we set off for the house.

"I agree with Eva. Can we not go shopping again tomorrow?" Anna pleaded.

"Unfortunately, no." Macey said rolling her wrist. "We still have more we need to get."

Everyone groaned this time.

"We are still only going for a semester, right?" Bex double checked.

"Last I checked." I informed her.

"Good." Bex flopped down onto my lap once more. "Wake me up when we're back at the house."

"How long do you think it will take her to fall asleep?" Courtney asked.

"She's already out." Liz informed her.

"No way." Courtney checked Bex's breathing and snapped in front of her face a few times. "That's insane."

"You're telling me." Macey agreed.

"How many trips do you think it's going to take to get all this stuff into the house?" Mick asked. We could barely see to the other row of seats, the entire floor space was covered in bags and there were more in the trunk.

"One. If we're dedicated." Macey answered.

"Two trips are for pansies." Liz explained when Mick looked at me wide eyed.

"You seriously think we can get all this inside in one trip?" Anna asked.

"If we're truly dedicated, then heck yes." Liz exerted.

"You four are all crazy." Kim teased with a grin.

I grinned back. "You know it." Macey agreed.

"Tina did you guys go to the Apple store?" Macey asked as she went over the contents of the car.

"Oh, yeah. We splurged and got an iPod with some speakers. The house was too quiet. Kimmy said she could get some music on it tonight." Tina explained.

"Great idea." Macey said with a grin.

"SHHHHHH." Eva yelled. "I'm sleeping."

I giggled lightly and made eye contact with Liz before leaning back in my seat to ride out the rest of the drive in silence.

Approximately an hour and a half after silence fell, we arrived back at the house. We the car pulled to a stop for what I knew was the final time, I nudged Bex awake.

"Come on Bex, we've got to get this all into the house. I need you to load me up." I reminded her.

"We'll need both of you to load everyone else up as well, otherwise we'll never get all this stuff inside." Macey informed me.

"Okay guys, let Bex and Cam out first and let them hand you a bunch of bags and only get out when the person ahead of you has moved into the house. I'll go first so you guys can see how it's done and Macey will dictate from in here." Liz explained as Bex and I made our way out of the limo.

"Come on out Lizzie." Bex instructed when we had the trunk open.

We loaded Liz up with as many bags as she could carry. When it looked like she was going to fall over we called for the next person. We loaded Eva up in a similar manner, then Anna, then Mick, then Kim, then Courtney, then Tina, then Macey, Bex, and I split whatever bags were left.

I made sure to knock on the window and thank the driver before following my friends inside and as Tina closed the door behind me I let out a wail of victory.

"YEAH! That's how it's done, son!" I yelled dropping my bags and chest bumping Bex. Well, I say chest bump but our arms were crossed over our chests, we're not that crazy.

I ran around the room getting high fives from everyone before Macey pulled me to a stop.

"Okay, we need to get Cammie to bed." She began to direct me to the stairs but I wasn't tired.

"Cammie gets overly energetic when she's tired, her body does everything it can to get rid of whatever energy it has left and then she crashes." Liz explained as I argued with Macey.

"I'm not tired Mace." I said as I slipped out of her grasp once more.

"Yes you are Cam, and besides you're staying with me tonight remember? If you aren't tired can you pretend to be so I can sleep?" Macey tried persuasion.

"You're not tired either Macey, you've still got to organize the bags." I reminded her.

"I know, but as soon as I'm done I'm gonna go to bed. Why don't you go make sure the pillows are comfortable enough? You know how picky I am." She tried once more to get me upstairs.

"As soon as Cammie's head touches a pillow when she's like this, she'll be out." Bex whispered to Eva.

"You are really picky which is why you should do it." I reasoned as I tried once more to go and get more high fives.

Bex went a grabbed our stacks of homework, which were actually almost normal sized.

"Come on Cam let's go work on our homework until Macey's ready for bed." Bex said handing me my stack.

"Okie doke." I said as I followed her up the stairs.

"Oh my gosh I've never seen Cammie like that." Kim exclaimed as Bex and I raced up the stairs.

"We can usually get her to bed before she gets like that…" Was the last thing I heard as I ran into the room Macey and I would be sleeping in.

"I bet I can finish my homework before I go to bed tonight." I challenged Bex.

She smiled. "I'm sure you can Cam."

"I totally can, watch." I said plopping down in the middle of the floor. Bex came and sat down across from me, and pretended to work on her assignment but I knew she was watching me finish all my homework.

I sat staring at my worksheet and my fingers went flying. I finished four whole homework assignments before Macey came upstairs.

"Okay Cam, let's get to bed." Macey said as she changed back into her big t-shirt and threw me mine.

"But I'm not done with all my homework yet." I argued.

"It's okay, you can finish it tomorrow." Macey reminded me.

"Oh right, right." I said as I put down my pencil and shed my dress.

"Okay, I'm going to bed too. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Bex bid us goodnight after setting both of our stacks of homework on the dresser.

I called goodnight after her before climbing into bed. Macey turned off the light and climbed into the bed next to me, but I was already asleep.

When Macey rolled out of bed the next morning, I didn't hesitate to follow.

"What happened last night?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

"You went all crazy-Cammie on us." She explained. "And I'm going to go crazy-Macey if you don't get into the shower. Oh, here, I grabbed something for you to wear last night."

"Thanks Mace." I said as I grabbed the pile of clothes she held out and went to shower.

I swiftly showered, glaring at my hairy legs, and changed into the outfit Macey provided. A simple pair of shorts and one of the band t-shirts from the day before were all that was in the pile and I put it on gratefully. I ran a comb through my hair and went to see if I could help out. I managed to pull Eva, Liz, Anna, and Mick out of bed and somehow was drafted to get Bex out of bed. I tried every trick in the book before finally just dumping the mattress onto the floor. As soon as I was sure that Bex wasn't going to go back to bed I went to check on the noise coming from below us.

The main floor was madness. There were girls to in the living room to the left and more girls in the music room on the right. They were searching bags and throwing clothing items back and forth. It looked like a war was going on, and it looked like Kim had put music on the iPod because some pop band was blasting through the halls.

"Anybody need help?" I yelled over the noise and music.

"Me!" Kim yelled from the music room. "I'm looking for a floral top with spaghetti straps. I'm pretty sure it's from Hollister."

"I'm on it!" I replied as I began searching bags. It took three minutes but I finally found it before turning to the next girl.

"Cam, can you help me find a pair of black shorts? They're ripped on the ends like this." Mick said holding up a pair of shorts. "They're basically this exact same pair of shorts but a size bigger."

I nodded and set to searching. A minute and a half later I had found the pair of shorts and was helping Liz unearth the pink dress from the day before. By the time I had found Liz's dress Bex needed help finding a very specific plaid shirt to go over the black tank top she had bought the day before.

"I thought they organized this stuff." I mumbled as Bex and I searched bags.

"So did I." Bex agreed.

"In our defense, we were all exhausted." Macey said appeared next to us. "Have either of you seen that pair of acid wash jeans with the rips in the knees?"

"In the H&M bag in that corner." I said pointing behind me.

"Thanks. We're leaving in five minutes." She called as she ran for the bag.

"Got it!" I yelled victoriously holding up the plaid shirt Bex wanted.

"You're the best Cam." She said as she pulled it on.

"Everyone got what they need?" I called and received affirmatives. Everyone was putting on the finishing touches before we took off.

"We only have like four stores today right?" I clarified with Bex.

"Yeah, but Macey wants to go to like every shoe store in the mall." Bex reminded me.

I groaned. There were four gigantic shoe stores.

"On the bright side, we aren't staying the whole day. We scheduled out like half the day for homework." Liz put in, joining the conversation.

"I'm to the point where homework sounds better than shopping." I said in self realization.

"Me too." Bex grumbled.

"Well we are shopping for 13 weeks at a boys school." Tina pointed out as she overheard our conversation. "It's best to be prepared."

"I don't know about you guys, but I feel pretty dang prepared." I said with conviction.

"I for one, feel totally prepared." Bex agreed and Tina laughed.

"Come on guys, it won't be so bad. The sooner we get there and through all the stores, the sooner we get to come back." Tina made her way to the door.

"And do homework." Bex finished with faux enthusiasm.

"We've already done a majority of it. Half of them are probably all wrong but they're done." I reminded her.

"Does that mean we can come back and just chill?" She asked as we made our way to the limo.

"No. We have to get it done now so when we get to Blackthorne we can spend more time sparring." I pointed out.

"Okay, okay, fine. You wanna know what I just realized?" Bex asked.

"What?"

"Macey hasn't planned any sports or athletic stores. None of us have anything to exercise in." She mentioned.

"True. We should ask her about it." I replied.

"Ask who what?" Macey said breathlessly as she climbed into the limo next to us.

"Why we don't have clothes for P&E." I recapped.

"Oh, we ordered them online. They're all matchy and cute." She informed us.

"So they won't be here until it's almost time to go. How convenient." Bex said through gritted teeth.

"Why Bex are you suggesting that I purposely planned the delayed arrival of the one thing I knew would take you away for preparing for Blackthorne? Because if you are you would be absolutely correct." Macey said in a faux offended voice.

"Smart move." Liz commented.

"Why thank you." Macey replied and flipped her hair.

"So are we going to pack downstairs or are you going to make us drag all of it upstairs then back down once it's packed?" I asked as I leaned back in my seat.

"We're probably going to pack downstairs. I don't even want to imagine what kind of mess would come with trying to get everything upstairs." Macey said rubbing her temples.

"What time are we planning on leaving the mall?" Eva asked.

"Four. We'll order food on the way home so we don't have to wait long when we get there." Tina answered.

"That way we'll still quite a bit of time to work on homework." Kim added.

"So we basically have five hours at the mall instead of ten?" Anna clarified.

"Half the time at the mall?" I asked excitedly.

"Yes. Don't get too excited though, we still have a lot to do." Macey reminded us.

"That's okay. That's totally okay." Anna said holding her hands up.

"Hey Kim, did you bring the iPod?" Courtney asked.

"Yeah, I'll play something." She said pulling it out of her pocket.

And the conversations started. Everyone was talking about what they had bought or what they were going to buy, or what they wanted to get out of buying. Some of the girls talked about Blackthorne boys they hoped to see again. And by some girls I mean me, Bex, and Macey.

"So, I've avoided the subject for as long as I can. Cammie, let's talk Zach." Macey started which got Bex to sit up and give her full attention.

"Yes, let's." Bex agreed.

"Calm down there soldier, we'll talk Grant in a moment." Macey said holding up her hand.

"Fine, fine, as long as we talk Jonas after." Bex agreed waving her hand.

"What about Jonas?" Liz asked popping into the conversation.

"Hold on, we'll get there in a minute, we're talking Zach right now." Macey informed Liz. "So let's start with the kiss."

"What about the kiss?" I responded, remaining calm. I'd thought a lot about this over the summer.

"It happened. How do you feel about it happening." Macey said nudging the conversation along.

"I feel like...one kiss does not a boyfriend make." I replied.

"So you don't like Zach?" Bex questioned.

"I do like Zach, but a kiss doesn't mean much especially since it was a goodbye kiss. Any other time might've meant something but I've decided it's comparable to when Abby kissed Joe goodbye that one time. You remember?" They nodded. "It was a 'Well someone had to do it!' kind of thing and that someone just happened to be Zach."

"So what are you going to do when you see him?" Liz asked.

"Say hi, ask him how his summer was. I decided it was best to go in with no expectations so I'm not disappointed meanwhile expecting everything so I'm not surprised." I answered.

Macey nodded. "I approve of this plan fully."

"Now let's talk Grant." I said turning on Bex.

"Yes. So Bex, how are you going to greet Grant?" Macey asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I'm debating between judo flipping him and blowing him a kiss. It depends on how he reacts." Bex replied quickly. Looks like I wasn't the only one that thought about her Blackthorne Boy.

"Brilliant." I said with a grin.

"I would advise blowing a kiss no matter what. While Grant is smart, he tends to need obvious signals." Macey added.

"Speaking of obvious signals." Bex said as she turned to face Liz.

"What about obvious signals?" Liz squeaked quietly.

"You definitely have to get Jonas to ask you out." Bex told her plainly.

"You two are perfect for each other." I added.

"Really? You think so?" She asked, her voice still high pitched.

"Definitely." Macey agreed. Liz flushed.

"I think Jonas is going to need more than signals from Liz, one of us is going to have to step in." I voiced my thoughts to Macey.

"I agree. Whoever gets there first." Macey and held out her pinky.

"Youguysnoreallyit'sokay." Liz said quickly trying to get it out before Bex and I linked our pinky's with hers. She was too late. We shook our pinky's and the deal was done.

"Are you guys making dirty deals over there?" Tina called playfully.

"Possibly. You want in?" Macey replied.

"It depends on how dirty." Eva called out from next to her.

"The dirtiest." Bex said in her British accent for dramatic flare.

"We absolutely want in." Mick said leaning forward.

"We're playing matchmaker." Macey said by way of explanation.

"Oooo, does that mean you can finally hook me up with Connor?" Kim asked excitedly.

"The one kid from last year with the crazy blue eyes?" I asked leaning forward.

"Yeah!" Kim exclaimed.

"We can totally hook you up with him." Tina said without a hint of doubt in her eyes.

"Can you get Thomas to like me?" Mick asked.

"We can get any guy to like you, if we're dedicated." I said with a wink.

"Tina who was that guy you liked?" Eva asked.

"Andrew." She replied. "And you liked Peter, right?"

"Yeah!" Eva responded.

"Anna liked Sam!" Courtney announced.

"Courtney liked Jake!" Anna retorted.

"If I have anything to do with it, they'll be head over heels for you guys by the time this exchange is over." Macey promised.

"What about you Mace? Who did you like?" Kim asked.

"None of them ever caught her eye." Liz informed them.

"I bet she'll find one this year." Bex said smoothly.

"I'd better, otherwise this will be one boring semester." Macey agreed.

We were still laughing when we pulled up to the front of the mall seconds later. We quickly said our goodbye's and split to speed shop. Hollister passed in a blur of darkness and overwhelming smells. Me and Bex spent basically the whole time we were in Macy's and Dillard's picking out horrible clothing and pretended to love it to mess with Macey. We stopped for lunch and I joked around with Liz and Kim before we headed out for our last stint in the stores. We sped through Abercrombie and Fitch with only a handful of purchases, the least amount of time we spent in a store all day and the smallest number of purchases, before starting for the first shoe store.

According to Macey, there were a dozen shoe pairs that were absolutely necessary for every closet. We each had to find three pairs of fashionable sneakers, two pairs of functional sneakers, flat sandals, tall flat boots, all weather boots, combat boots, black pumps, ballet flats, stilettos, 'quiet shoes', ankle boots, and a couple pair of oxfords to wear with our uniforms. When Liz pointed out that it would be more than a dozen pairs of shoes we were informed that it was a dozen different kind of shoes and that's what mattered.

Shoes were easiest to find, surprisingly. We quickly split up to divide and conquer which was simple because we were all within the same shoe sizes. Macey went for heels and flats, Bex went for boots, Liz went to find Oxford's and sandals, while I found sneakers. I quickly found running shoes in our size that were cute yet functional. I set them aside for Macey to check then went in search of fashionable sneakers. I decided on a pair of plain black doc martin high tops (which I decided were sneakers), a pair of navy all stars, and a pair of white-ish patterned canvas ones. Macey quickly okayed them and after making sure we all had a pair or each we made our final purchase of 64 pairs of shoes. I really really really wish I was joking. Somehow we managed to make our way out of the store and to the limo to drop off our bags. Once we had dropped them off we waited inside the car for the other girls to appear.

"Hey guys, meet us in Claire's. We need to show you something." Mick's voice came through the com's unit.

We exchanged looks before quickly but inconspicuously making our way to the jewelry store. We entered the store and quickly located our friends at the far wall.

"Okay, we're here. What's the emergency?" Macey asked while keeping an eye on all the other customers.

Eva spoke first. "Okay, there's not really an emergency but you needed to actually see this as opposed to us describing it. Okay, maybe it's a minor emergency-"

"Move it along Eva." Bex cut in impatiently.

"Are we crazy, or does this look like the Gallagher crest?" Courtney asked, pushing forward.

The four of us leaned forward to examine the locket in her hand. It certainly looked like the Gallagher crest at first glance, it was almost a match except for one small difference.

"No, the Gallagher crest has a different kind of vine on it. See how the vine here has three leaf things? The Gallagher one only has two." I pointed out.

"Wow. Nice catch Cam." Macey said as she looked closer at the necklace. "I never would've noticed that."

"I've spent more time than I care to share staring at the Gallagher crest." I admitted.

"Hey guys, check it out they have crappy fake dog tags." Mick said as she surveyed the arguably horrible jewelry in the store.

"We should get dog tags." Anna suggested.

"Ten steps ahead of you, Tina and I ordered them a few days ago." Macey replied with a grin.

"What did you guys put on them?" Kim asked.

"One side says 'Hard times always reveal true friends' and the other has our name, the year, Gallagher Girl and a number, then 'Blackthorne Exchange'. Don't ask me how we managed to fit all of that onto a piece of silver metal cause I'm still not quite sure." Tina replied.

"That sounds awesome! What else did you guys order?" Liz asked.

"A locket with the Gallagher crest on the front and all our names on the back, bracelets that also have the Gallagher crest imprinted on it, and everything else we told you about before." Macey answered.

"We plan on making a statement that we're Gallagher Girls." Tina explained.

"I think it'll work." I teased.

"It'd better." Macey added.

"Can we go now? My brain is ready to explode." Kim asked.

"Absolutely, let's get out of here. Come on girls!" Macey called the others and we left the store empty handed.

We quickly trekked our way back to the car, helping our friends carry their bags and as soon as the door was closed we begged for the driver to make way for the house.

"I can honestly say that I'm done shopping." Macey said calmly.

"I can top that, I can honestly say that I no longer _want_ to shop which is a new sensation for me." Eva groaned.

"I agree with Eva." Tina said rubbing her shoulders.

"I feel like we should document this moment, it's so rare." Courtney joked.

"You want to know what's not a rare moment?" Bex asked.

"What?" Anna replied.

"Me falling asleep in the car." She flopped her head down in my lap and I began playing with her hair.

"Well there goes Bex." Macey said as Bex caught up on her sleep.

"And Cammie." Liz added.

"Cammie's still awake." Anna pointed out.

"Yeah but she's not going to talk anymore so she doesn't bug Bex while she's asleep. Cammie's a good friend like that." Liz explained for me.

Conversations began floating around me once more, I managed to keep an ear out for anything important but otherwise just let myself fade into the sidelines.

The drive home seemed longer than usual but maybe it was just my eagerness to relax. Not that homework was really relaxing, but I could at least change into something more comfortable. We reached the house quickly and unloaded the car with more speed than we did the day before. After thanking the driver and locking the door behind me, I helped the other girls organize all our purchases. We set things into piles based on which group it was in then separated it into individual piles for each person. This is harder than it sounds, it ended up taking over an hour.

"Okay, food should be here…" Macey said trailing off to look at Liz for a count down.

"Forty five minutes ago." Liz answered.

"Right...I'll go double check the order." Macey replied to go grab her laptop.

"I'm going to go do homework." I announced before grabbing Bex's hand and hauling her up the stairs, Tina, Courtney, and Liz following behind.

"Hey, how close are you and Bex to being done?" Mick asked as we ran up the stairs.

"So close I can taste it." Bex replied.

"Well, except for the essays." I reminded her.

"Forget the essays, I'm just trying to get through the monumental stack of work." Bex groaned as we made our way to Macey's room to grab our homework.

"We've already done the easy essays." I pointed out to Bex as she groaned over how much we had left.

"It's the not easy ones that worry me. Do you think we can get the rest of the worksheets done before we get to Blackthorne?" She asked hopefully.

"If we work through the night again, yeah." I replied.

Bex glared at her work as we walked back to where the others sat in the master bedroom.

"I think it's worth it." Bex finally decided.

"So do I!" Courtney agreed. "What's worth it?" She asked us, confused.

"To work through the night to finish the rest of our worksheets." I updated her.

"Oh. I revoke my answer." Courtney said as she looked woefully at the work she had left to do.

"It looks like you're over halfway done." I exclaimed.

"Yeah well, I am. I could probably be farther but I've been writing the essays as I go." She explained, her face saying she failed.

"That's insane. How far are you Liz?" I asked, turning to my brainiest friends.

"Almost as far as you and Bex, but I've been writing the essays too." Liz explained.

"Bex, I give up." I announced as I plopped down on the floor next to Liz.

"Finally." Bex agreed sitting next to me.

"You can't give up yet! Finish the worksheets tonight, I'll even skip the essays to do them with you." Liz encouraged.

"Really?" I asked happily.

"Yeah, of course." Liz said with a grin.

"I changed my mind Bex, I'm not giving up yet." I informed my British best friend.

"So bloody close…" She murmured.

"You guys are seriously more dedicated than I am. I'm barely done through next month." Tina said as she gestured to her pile of work.

"You'll get it done, Tina." Courtney said encouragingly.

"I'm sure I will, I just wish it was done already you know?" She said moving to lay on her stomach.

"If it weren't for Cammie, we'd be in the same boat." Bex admitted as she frowned at the work in front of her.

"See now if one of my roommates were as forceful as Cammie…" Tina joked with a look at Courtney.

"That stopped being my job as soon as I was moved in with Mick and Anna." Courtney defended, hands up.

"I know, I wish they hadn't moved you." Tina said, laying on one arm. "We miss you."

"I miss you guys too. Anna and Mick are fun though." Courtney said earnestly.

"What even happened to Maddie and Carly?" I asked. They were cousins that had been roommates with Anna and Mick while Courtney was with Tina, Eva, and Kim. Maddie and Carly left sometime our 8th grade year.

"They just couldn't keep up. It became too hard for them and so their parents yanked them out." Tina explained.

"So I was yanked from room 108 and moved into 110." Courtney said glumly.

"I remember when it was just us three." I said nudging Liz and Bex.

"We had some good times." Liz agreed.

"They're better with Macey though." Bex pointed out.

"Couldn't agree more." I said with a smile.

"I used to think having three to a room would be amazing. Three sucks." Tina admitted.

"Really though." Courtney agreed.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and you four will get to share a room at Blackthorne." Liz said hopefully.

"Maybe. Doubt it." Courtney said glumly.

"On the bright side I ordered about a dozen movies for movie nights while we're at Blackthorne. I couldn't help myself." Tina informed us brightly. "Each of the girls has got to come to all of them, otherwise they won't be any fun."

"Trust me, I'm sure we'll all be eager to have movie nights." Bex reassured her with a grin. Tina's movie nights really were the best.

"FOOD!" Macey called from downstairs.

"Yes!" Bex yelled grabbing my hand and dragging up. I managed to grab Liz on my way up so Bex had to drag both of us, slowing her slightly.

"Pizza again?" Liz asked as we entered the kitchen.

"Yeah but we got bread sticks this time." Mick said holding up a bread stick for proof.

"Cam, I want to go work on the assignments we have left upstairs. Will you come with me?" Liz pleaded.

"Of course." I replied, grabbing a half empty box of pizza and a bag of bread sticks.

"Where are you going?" Macey asked as we turned to leave.

"Back upstairs. There's homework to be done." I replied with a wink before escaping with Liz at my side.

Liz and I set up shop in the middle of the bedroom she and I shared the first night. We sat side by side by the head of the bed with the pizza box sitting at the foot of it. Liz jumped right into her work while I ate a piece of pizza first. Liz was working feverishly, I hadn't seen her like this since the end of June. I reached over and placed one of my hands on hers.

"Are you okay Lizzie?" I asked quietly.

"I'm scared." She admitted, she turned to look at me, eyes full of the fear she accepted.

"What are you afraid of?" I asked kindly.

"The fact that we're going to a school full of assassins. The fact that we're going to a school for boy assassins terrifies me." She told me.

"Okay, but what about it scares you?" I asked, forcing her to think. She knew what I was doing, this had happened before.

"I guess...I'm scared because I don't know what's going to happen." She said after a few seconds thought.

"The unknown is always scary, but I think you have enough courage to get through this." I said confidently.

"What if I don't?" She asked, voice quavering slightly.

"Then you can borrow some of mine." I offered, gripping her hand tightly.

Liz smiled slightly. "Well you do have quite a bit of courage." She said slowly.

"Exactly. With our combined courage, there's nothing we can't do." I reminded her. "You don't have to be scared, I'm gonna watch out for you."

"Thanks Cam. I'm glad we're friends." She said after a few moments silence.

"I'm glad we're sisters." I corrected her and she hugged me.

"Now, let's do some homework." Liz exclaimed. I knew she would be fine as soon as she reached for a piece of pizza before continuing her work.

Liz and I worked our way through the half of the pizza and the entire bag of bread sticks. Macey and Bex stopped in at one point to say goodnight, but we kept on trucking. Several times I thought about stopping for the night but I wasn't about to let Liz work alone. Around 2:00 in the morning Liz finished with her stack of worksheets and since I only had busy work left, Liz let me copy her answers. By 2:30 we were both done with our homework (except for essays) and dead asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry about the shopping and prep, a necessary evil. I promise I think these through before I post them, I'm setting things up for later chapters. I'll post two today though so it's hopefully not as boring(: There's some heavy stuff coming so I tried to make the first few lighthearted.**

Chapter 5

Lizzie thrashed beside me. How long had we been asleep? Not long enough. I reached over blindly and wrapped my arms around her to calm her. Stupid nightmares.

"Should we wake them up?" A whisper came from the doorway. Bex? No. Macey.

"No, leave them be. It looks like they had a long night of homework." Bex this time.

The noise faded and I fell back asleep.

"It's been forever, now can we wake them up?" Macey again.

"No, they need rest. You know that." Bex argued. "Just because we can't sleep in doesn't mean they shouldn't"

"It's just because Cammie's there…" Their voices faded down the hall once more and oblivion opened it's arms once more.

"Okay, now you can wake them up." Bex said and I couldn't help but notice that she was much too close to my face.

"Lizzie, Cammie, it's time for you to get your skinny little butts out of bed." Macey said in a sing song voice.

"Macey, no offense but you suck at waking people up." Bex said before trying it her way. She gently nudged my arm and whispered. "Cam, it's time to wake up. We have food waiting for you, and we're going to start packing soon. Doesn't that sounds exciting?"

I groaned. Bex took it as a sign to continue.

"Sure going to spend a semester with a much of male assassins our age could be seen as a negative or a positive thing but on the bright side, you have me and Macey and Liz coming with you. Anything with your best friends in the whole world can't be that bad, can it?"

This time Liz groaned. Bex pushed me to the side and climbed into bed with me and Liz.

"If you girls don't start waking up soon, I'm going to have to let Macey after you." Bex warned. I picked my head up off the pillow and moved it to Bex's stomach. She began absentmindedly stroking my hair while Liz moved her head from her pillow onto my back.

"Hey, I want in." Macey complained and managed to squeeze herself on the bed next to Liz. I felt Macey's arm hit my back and I knew that she had rested her head on Liz's shoulder.

"What's everyone else doing?" Liz mumbled.

"They're waiting for the rest of the stuff to arrive. Most of the packages are here but we decided not to open them until they're all here." Macey explained.

"Whose idea was that?" I asked.

"Kim's. It was a good one though considering the only thing we're waiting for is the luggage." Macey informed us and I snorted a laugh.

"What time is it?" Liz asked.

"About 9:15." Bex replied.

Liz let out a loud groan. "You two need to learn the meaning of the phrase: Sleeping in." She complained.

"I'm sure you will be able to teach us one day Lizzie, but in the meantime, it's time to get up." Macey said with another nudge.

Liz groaned again but decided to get up anyway.

"I'm with Bex tonight, right?" I asked my friends.

"Unfortunately, yes." Macey grumbled.

I tilted my head up to look at her. "Can we sleep in tomorrow?" I asked sleepily.

"Sure thing Cam." She said as she stopped stroking my hair and helped me climb out of bed.

"Do we have food?" Liz asked as we stumbled into the bathroom to brush our teeth.

"I believe so." Macey replied as she and Bex waited for us in the doorway.

We swiftly finished with our morning routine and ran down the stairs to find a source of nutrition.

"Finally! I was beginning to think you two would never wake up." Tina said as she spotted us.

"Sorry, we had a pretty late night." I said by way of explanation before picking up a piece of cold pizza.

"You finished didn't you?" Mick asked, disbelief on her face.

"Yeah. Well, except for the essays." Liz replied.

"That's literally insane." Mick said shaking her head.

"They're here!" Kim called from the music room.

"The luggage? Finally." We all ran from the kitchen to the open door to see dozens of packages being unloaded from the truck.

Even more impressive than the ones that were being unloaded from the truck were the ones that had already been unloaded. They had moved all the bags from shopping into the living room and they had filled the music room with dozens and dozens and dozens of boxes.

"Geez Mace, I thought you guys said you didn't order that much." I exclaimed as I processed what I saw.

"It wouldn't be that much if it was just for one person but when you're ordering for ten girls, it tends to be a lot." She defended.

"Guys, give us a hand carrying these in. Let's set up an assembly line." Anna suggested and we all ran to get it done.

Anna was next to the movers with Eva next to her, then Tina, then Bex, then Mick, then Macey, then Courtney, then Kim, with Liz and Me taking the boxes from the threshold into the actual house making a stack next to the stairs.

Even with the assembly line, it took us a good ten minutes to get all the boxes inside. After waving off the delivery guy's amazement at our strength, we decided to start deciphering the boxes. Kim pulled out the iPod and hit shuffle for background noise and we started with the luggage sets.

To make it easiest, everyone opened two boxes in the hopes of making a set. If you ended up get two boxes with the same content, you just switched with someone else who had a box with what you needed. Simple. The first and easiest part was done. Next came the hard part. There was so much stuff that we needed to pack and not a lot of room to do it. We ended up setting up 'zones' for everyone. The 'zones' stretched all the way across the living room, through the dining room, and into the kitchen. We started by setting up our luggage where our zone was going to sit then marked it by putting the adorable little luggage tags on them. Next we went through the bags that were already somewhat organized and set them by our luggage set. Then we started with the first boxes in sight and started distributing the contents.

Some items were easier to distribute than others. The monogrammed pajamas for instance were simple because they were individually wrapped and had initials on the front. The makeup kits were difficult because they each had to be checked for contents then matched to the person. Our distributing center went on for hours, we each picked up a box at a time and maneuvered around each other until the box was empty then started over again with a new box.

I knew that Macey and Tina ordered a lot of stuff, I just didn't process how much until our zones were overlapping and it was became difficult to tell whose stuff was whose. Around 2:00 we finally had all the boxes empty and the items in the general area of the new owner. The fact that the boxes were empty did not make it any easier, oh no. There were mix ups, and items that had overlapped into someone else's area, and in general, chaos. We even found an extra 'Gallagher' bracelet. So the next step was the create new zones that had more room.

We pushed the tables and couches out of the way, and even moved the piano then we transferred people around until everyone had enough space to see whether or not they had all their items. Everyone checked and double checked that they had everything they needed and nothing that wasn't theirs. Another two hours had passed before we actually began packing.

"Oh my gosh, I almost forgot. Bex, Cam, where did you guys put those boxes with the gear?" Macey asked as double checked to make sure everything was distributed.

"In the dining room. We'll go grab them." Bex said, nudging my arm.

We ran to get the boxes full of spy gear and when the girls saw them they squealed like it was Christmas.

"Ooooo goodie, new gear!" Courtney exclaimed as Bex and I set the boxes down in the entryway, aka the halfway point.

"Let's crack these puppies open and see what mamma got for Christmas this year." Mick said rubbing her hands together anxiously.

Bex and I obliged, we opened the first of the boxes and began to remove the items one at a time. The girls crowded around picking up one of each of the items and 'ooooh-ing' and 'aaaaah-ing' over the new gear.

"Alright girls, enough with the gear. It's time to get packing!" Bex yelled as she handed out the last of her items and we all cheered.

Packing was the fun part, the luggage Mick suggested had plenty of space and there were even nifty compartments. We sang and laughed and danced to the music as we piled our purchases into the luggage. Unfortunately we got more laughing done than packing and before we knew it, the sun was going down.

"Is it seriously already 7:00?" I questioned as I took a break.

"Yeah, I guess so." Bex said looking up from where she sat.

"Where did the day go?" I asked metaphorically as I stood and stretched.

"Hey Cam, I found some of your shirts in my pile. Not sure how they got there." Liz said, handing me the aforementioned items.

"Okay, thanks Liz." I replied, tossing the shirts onto my pile. "It's been hours and I still haven't really packed anything."

"I know how you feel." Macey said popping her neck from where she sat with her pile on my left.

"I think I'm going to have to reorganize my clothing container." I groaned.

"I left out a handful of things when packing my beauty container and now I have no clue how it's going to fit." Bex moaned.

"You can always put it in the backpack." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but then what if it spills while it's in there?" I could see her point.

"I'm going to order food, then I'll get back to work." Macey said climbing to her feet.

"I'm coming with you." I said following her to the kitchen. "You should order some kind of sweet liquid with the food. I need something other than water."

"I'll keep that in mind." Macey said as she picked up the phone. "I'm ordering thai. No one had better complain."

"I think they'll be glad for any excuse to take a break." I told her as I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and drank deeply.

I stretched my legs and back as I waited for Macey get off the phone. I glanced around at the girls as the packed, mostly quiet. Sure Tina and Eva were chatting about packing techniques and Kim and Mick were singing along to the music, but over all, the house was pretty quiet.

"Alright. We'll see you then, thank you." Macey said as she ended the conversation.

"You know, I never knew Gallagher Girls could be this quiet." I told Macey as I looked around the rooms.

"It's strange, not being with all the others." Macey admitted.

"I know...I miss all our crazy sisters." I said earnestly. "It's going to be a long semester."

"Yeah...let's get back to work, food will be here in an hour." And back to work we went.

I managed to unpack and repack my clothing suitcase, and to get my beauty suitcase packed as well by the time food got there. We all took a break to eat dinner, some of us putting off packing for a full hour while others ate as quickly as they could before returning to what they were doing before. We all tried to focus after eating but we quickly fell apart and our packing party turned into a plain old party. We danced and sang along to the music, we teased each other and joked and overall had a good time, all the while ignoring the responsibility that came with the luggage around us.

"Eva, I'm sorry but you're a horrible dancer." Bex yelled over the music, laughing good naturedly at our friend.

"Oh believe me, I am very well aware of how horrible I am at dancing. I learned from my dad who has worse rhythm than I do." Eva replied.

"Kim, I never would've guessed you had such a dark side." Macey teased as a classic rock song came on.

Kim flushed. "It wasn't me it was for Mick!" She exclaimed.

"No need to lie Kimmy, you're in a safe zone." Mick said with a smile as she moon walked past her.

"Oh shove off Mick!" Courtney replied coming to Kim's rescue.

"Cam, come do that one dance with me!" Liz yelled to me from across the entrance hall. I slid across the tile in my socks and stopped next to my adorable nerd friend as we did the robot.

Macey laughed as she watched our horrible attempt at dancing.

"I don't know what you're laughing at McHenry, it's not like you're much better." I called as Bex came to join in our dance.

"Yeah but I don't accentuate the fact that I'm bad." She argued.

"Oh come on Macey, let loose a little! Have some fun." Bex called to her as she crossed to pull her out to dance with us.

"You guys are going to be the death of me!" Macey yelled as she joined us in flailing our limbs.

"You guys are all terrible at dancing!" Anna informed us as she returned from the bathroom.

"We're doing it on purpose! Join us!" Tina called to her over the music.

We danced through the rock song, and all screamed in excitement when the next song that came on was Taylor Swift. Not a single one of us pretended not to know the song, we all belted out the lyrics at the top of our lungs.

You're on the phone with your girlfriend

She's upset, she's going off about something that you said

'Cause she doesn't get your humor like I do.

I'm in the room, it's a typical Tuesday night.

I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like.

And she'll never know your story like I do.

But she wears short skirts

I wear t-shirts

She's cheer captain

And I'm on the bleachers

Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find

That what you're looking for has been here the whole time.

If you could see

That I'm the one

Who understands you.

Been here all along.

So, why can't you see

You belong with me,

You belong with me.

Walk in the streets with you in your worn out jeans

I can't help thinking this is how it ought to be.

Laughing on a park bench thinking to myself,

"Hey, isn't this easy?"

And you've got a smile

That could light up this whole town.

I haven't seen it in a while

Since she brought you down.

You say you're fine I know you better than that.

Hey, what you doing with a girl like that?

She wears high heels,

I wear sneakers.

She's cheer captain,

And I'm on the bleachers.

Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find

That what you're looking for has been here the whole time.

If you could see

That I'm the one

Who understands you,

Been here all along.

So, why can't you see

You belong with me.

Standing by and waiting at your backdoor.

All this time how could you not know, baby?

You belong with me,

You belong with me.

Oh, I remember you driving to my house

In the middle of the night.

I'm the one who makes you laugh

When you know you're 'bout to cry.

I know your favorite songs,

And you tell me about your dreams.

Think I know where you belong,

Think I know it's with me.

Can't you see

That I'm the one

Who understands you?

Been here all along.

So, why can't you see

You belong with me.

Standing by and waiting at your backdoor.

All this time how could you not know, baby?

You belong with me,

You belong with me.

You belong with me.

Have you ever thought just maybe

You belong with me?

You belong with me.

The next song started and the off pitch singing began again. Albums passed before we realized how exhausted we were.

Eva and Tina faded first, heading upstairs to bed around 9:00. Mick and Kim were next, Anna and Courtney following soon after. Macey, Liz, Bex, and I turned off the music to let our friends sleep but stayed downstairs a while longer, chatting and laughing about the week we'd had at the house. It was fun to spend some time together just the four of us. Eventually, Bex and I made our way upstairs to bed, Macey and Liz following behind us..

Everyone was anxious when we woke up the next morning. We all arose around the same time as if awoken by an unheard alarm. The countdown started as soon as our eyes opened. 14 hours until we go.

We started with breakfast, every conversation whispered as if speaking aloud were against the rules. Breakfast passed in near silence before everyone turned to packing. The music was quieter than the day before, there were less laughs and no conversations. Anna was the first to finish packing. 11 hours until we go.

Those that finished with their packing turned to another silent activity. Homework. Mick finished after Anna, Courtney soon after. 9 and a half hours until we go.

The rest of us finished in rapid succession after Courtney. Eva, Tina, Kim, Bex, Liz, Me, then Macey. 8 hours until we go.

Liz and I had finished our homework, except for the essays, so with nothing else to do we swept the house making sure no one had left anything behind. The house was clean. We went downstairs to see if there was anything down there that could be useful that we might leave. Nothing. 6 hours and forty five minutes until we go.

Bex and Mick finished their homework while all the other girls just decided to pack it up for the night. 4 hours until we go.

We checked and double checked that we had everything packed. Kim turned on the iPod and we sang Taylor Swift to help calm our nerves. 2 and half hours until we go.

We stacked our luggage and popped out the wheels so we would be completely ready when Solomon gets here. One hour until we go.

Bex and I sparred while the others fought to stay awake. We waited breathlessly for Solomon to show up. As soon as the clock hit 11:30, there was a knock on the door.

Macey took quick steps to open the door while the rest of us stood in a semicircle with our luggage in the foyer. Macey pulled open the door to reveal Mr. Solomon with a ski bus behind him.

"Good evening ladies." He said politely.

"Good evening Mr. Solomon." We chanted in unison.

"Would you like to come in?" Macey asked politely. We knew he would decline.

"No thank you. Are you ladies ready to go?" He asked. We nodded and he gestured for us to take our luggage out to the car.

We quickly and efficiently loaded our luggage into the space underneath the bus before taking our seats near the front of the bus. Solomon made sure everything was secure before entering the bus himself and closing the doors behind him.

"Alright ladies it's going be a long night of driving. We should arrive at Blackthorne sometime early this morning, there will be plenty of time for you to get ready and you will be attending classes tomorrow. We will make our entrance during breakfast which I imagine will be quite interesting. I assume you girls have a plan?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course." Macey answered for us.

"I assume it requires destruction?" He stated again.

"Is there any other way to make an entrance?" Bex questioned and Solomon smiled.

"My final assumption is it involves scaring the boys." He finished.

"You know us so well." Courtney said with a winning smile.

"Then I suggest you girls get some rest. It's going to be a long night and an even longer day." He turned to take his seat at the wheel but Liz stopped him.

"What's Blackthorne's cover? What cover will we be required to keep up?" She questioned.

"Blackthorne's cover coincides with yours. Your cover is to be the Gallagher girls that Roseville knows and despises. This shouldn't be too difficult for you girls." He said reassuringly before taking his seat and starting the bus.

Bex turned to look at me, a grin on her face. "This is going to be bloody amazing."

"I hope so Bex. I certainly hope so." I agreed as I leaned back in my seat.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Have an extra chapter because the wait was horrible and the packing and such was boring. Buckle your seat belts ladies and gents, this is about to get intense.**

Chapter 6

Bex quickly followed Mr. Solomon's suggestion and leaned over placing her head in my lap before falling into a deep sleep. The other girls whispered about a few more last minute details pertaining to our entrance plan before following suit. Pretty soon, the only ones awake were Mr. Solomon and I. I tried to fall asleep, I really did but sleeping in moving modes of transportation had never been easy for me. I tried counting sheep, counting cars we passed, counting trees, counting the number of breaths Bex took, but nothing was working. Oh well, one sleepless night wasn't going to kill me. Bex, Macey, Liz, and I had trained ourselves to go four nights without sleep and we could do it while showing minimal signs of the lack of sleep for one of Lizzie's projects. That had been an interesting three months…Solomon and I didn't make conversation mainly because I didn't want to wake the other girls up and partly because I didn't think he would answer any of the questions I had.

The hours passed slowly as we sped towards Blackthorne. It was peaceful and I was surprised that I wasn't more restless. The moon made it's way across the sky and I sat enjoying the solitude. The novelty of solitude and silence quickly wore off. I was practically bouncing in my seat when we pulled up in front of a huge building around 4:30 in the morning.

"You can wake them up now Cammie." Solomon said as the van came to a stop.

"Oh thank the stars." I said finally, shaking Bex awake and tapping Macey and Liz awake in front of me.

We nudged awake the rest of the girls and thanks to the sleep test Dr. Fibbs subjected our class to, we were all awake in under 15 seconds. Mr. Solomon turned the van off and turned to look at us, looking slightly impressed that we managed to wake up and be alert so quickly and with so little noise.

"Well ladies, time to practice your silence skills. Pop Quiz, make it up to your dorms with very little noise. Remember the goal is to not wake anyone up. Your dorms are in the west wing, I'll lead you to them. Bring your luggage with us." He said shortly before jumping off the bus.

We hurried to follow behind him. We all grabbed our bags and popped out the wheels. We made our way up the front steps and in through the grand entrance before lifting our bags up the grand staircase. We went up two flights of stairs, went down an extremely long hallway with lots of doors before turning left and going down another long hallway and finally reaching an isolated set of doorways at the far end of the hall.

Solomon pulled a key out of his pocket and silently put it into the lock before pulling the door opened. He held the door open for us as we all pulled our luggage into a large living room area. As soon as the last girl was in he shut and locked the door behind us.

"Ladies, this is where you will be staying for the next 13 weeks. Through the doors on your left and right you will find bathrooms that connect to your bedrooms, the doors in the middle connect directly to your rooms. I will be staying with the rest of the staff on the floor above you but I can be here swiftly if there's an emergency so don't worry but I'm warning you now that the whole area is soundproof. Go ahead and get unpacked, I'll come and get you when it's time for your entrance. If you would like to keep your presence a surprise I suggest you stay here." Solomon instructed. He turned toward the door but Liz called out to stop him.

"Do we get keys?" She asked.

He smiled slightly. "I'll see what I can do." He smiled once more, reassuringly, before leaving.

We stood in silence for a moment, taking in the common room that we would all share. There were two couches, a tv, two bean bags, with a table in the middle of them all. There were two doors on the left wall and two doors on the right with two doors on the wall behind us leading into the hall. After staring for a few seconds, Macey snapped us back to focus.

"Alright girls, let's figure out rooming then start unpacking. We'll get ready as soon as we're unpacked so try to make it snappy." She ordered.

We abandoned our luggage for a moment and went through the doors that lead to the bedrooms. They weren't exactly bedrooms, more like corridors with beds. Spacious ones though. Macey, Liz, Bex, and I took the corridor on the left while Courtney, Eva, Kim, and Tina took the one on the right. Looks like they would get to room together after all. That left Mick and Anna to take the two person space behind the wall that had the tv on it. There were three bathrooms, one connecting our corridor to Anna and Micks, with the other near the doors. There was just a corner in between Anna and Mick's corridor and Tina and the other's corridor. We quickly decided who would use which bathroom (it wasn't hard) and began to unpack.

We spent a good chunk of the early morning unpacking before Macey decided it was time for us to get ready for our entrance. We took turns showering while the other set out what we needed to wear and the make up. We all blow dried our hair using hair dryers that Tina had sent out to the one guy in the middle of nowhere so our hair was dried in under a minute, even Bex's incredibly thick hair. The sun began to rise as we put the final touches on our ensembles, waiting for Solomon to gather us.

We wore matching outfits because they're cute. We all had on black shorts that were shredded on the legs so they looked like cut offs. We paired them with either a loose tank with a bandeau underneath or a crop top (depending on what we had in our individual bags) and thigh high socks. We were debating whether or not to wear our leather jackets on top. We decided that those with crop tops would but those in loose tanks would not.

Liz, Kim, Anna, Tina, and Bex were all wearing loose dark colored tanks with different color/style bandeau underneath while Macey, Courtney, Mick, Eva, and I decided to go with dark colored crop tops. We had slipped on either combat boots or dark sneakers depending on each girls individual style. With thick curls, smokey eyeshadow, and thick eyeliner we looked incredible. We stood anxiously waiting for Solomon to come back when Courtney had a great idea.

"Hey, we should wear our dog tags with these outfits. It would make these outfits look even more intense." She suggested.

"Great idea!" Macey exclaimed and she ran off to grab the box of dog tags, the one thing that had arrived a day late keeping us from packing them properly.

Courtney was right, they really pulled the outfits together. We all had individual numbers as well as names on them so they were pretty personalized.

Macey called out each person's name as she pulled their tags out of the box.

"Okay...number 8, Courtney. 5, Tina. 1, me. 9, Kim. 7, Eva. 2, Cam. 6, Mick. 3, Liz. 10, Anna. Last but not least 4, Bex." She handed each of us our tags and we slipped them over our heads.

"Um...Mace?" Bex called as she examined her tags. "Why do my tags say 'Raudra'?" She questioned.

"Did I forget to tell you? I felt like names were too obvious and I couldn't put code names so I kinda assigned everyone a sanskrit name for their tags." She said as if it had just 'slipped her mind'.

Every girl hurried to check their tags. I was Karuna, Macey was Dhana, Bex was Raudra, Liz was Adbhuta, Tina was Hasya, Mick was Kshathriya, Eva was Sringara, Courtney was Kaama, Kim was Bhayanaka, and Anna was Sathya. I thought the sanskrit was awesome and a great idea and luckily for Macey, the other girls thought so too.

Finally we were ready. Or so I thought.

"Wait! Macey, weren't we gonna go majorly red with the lips?" Tina exclaimed pointing to her lips as she spoke.

"Yeah we were! I'll be right back." She said running off to grab lipstick.

"Oh no you don't. I put up with the eyeliner and smokey eyeshadow, I even let you guys curl my hair but there's no way I'm putting on blood red lipstick." I exclaimed as Macey crossed to our room.

"I'm with Cam." Anna added.

"Oh come on girls, please? Sisterhood remember?" Tina begged with puppy dog eyes and I'll admit it, I caved. Anything for a sister.

Macey returned with one of her fancy lip moisturizers and blood red lip stain. We quickly coated our lips in both before returning to our waiting position while Liz and Kim worked on music for our entrance.

At 7:57 Mr. Solomon knocked quietly on the door before entering. We rose to our feet and looked at him expectantly.

"You're due to enter at 8:06 exactly. I'll walk through the main entrance so if you could leave me out of your plan, it would be appreciated. Don't disappoint." He said shortly before leading us back to the foyer. "Good luck girls."

We got to work. The grand hall had windows approximately 30 feet up that were practically almost open and pillars approximately six feet from the windows. Bex, Mick, Eva, Courtney, Anna, Tina, Macey, and I hurried out the front door and scaled the outside of the building and hung outside the window waiting for Liz and Kim's signal. They would be walking in with Solomon.

"Psst. Cam, there are windows on the other side too." Macey whispered to me and I nodded.

I gestured for Anna, Mick, and Bex to follow me and we snuck in the windows and carefully made our way around the inside of the windows to the other side of the building while escaping notice. I let out a huge sigh of relief when we reached the other side undetected.

At 8:05:45 we snuck back in through the windows opposite our friends and waited for the music to start.

We heard the phrase the "Welcome the girls from Gallagher Academy" then Fall Out Boy's "Phoenix" came blasting through the speakers.

Put on your war paint

We flew off the windows and slid down the pillars

You are a brick tied to me that's dragging me down

Strike a match and I'll burn you to the ground

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July

Setting fire to the sky

He-here comes this rising tide

So come on

Macey, Bex, Tina, Eva, Courtney, and Mick jumped up on the tables and started kicking things over. There were cups flying everywhere, glass shattering and it was quite the sight to behold.

While our friends caused mayhem and destruction, Anna and I slipped quietly to the front of the room. We easily avoided attention seeing as everyone was watching the girls make a mess

Put on your war paint

Anna and I simultaneously jumped onto the teacher's table and ran down from either side meeting in the middle without moving a napkin out of place. The table was pristine.

Cross walks and crossed hearts and hope-to-dies

Silver clouds with grey linings

So we can take the world back from the heart-attacked

One maniac at a time we will take it back

You know time crawls on when you're waiting for the song to start

So dance alone to the beat of your heart

Anna and I lounged on the podium up front, seemingly bored, sipping from goblets as the first of the boys noticed us. One of the boys made a grab at Courtney who jumped up and swung herself onto a low hanging light fixture.

Hey young blood

Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?

I'm gonna change you like a remix

Then I'll raise you like a phoenix

Wearing our vintage misery

No, I think it looked a little better on me

I'm gonna change you like a remix

Then I'll raise you like a phoenix

Bex had somehow managed to start a fight between some of the boys and was laughing as the others tried to split them up. Macey was teasing the boys at her table and Tina had grabbed something from someone and was playing keep away by tossing it back and forth with Eva. And since this song is insanely long and we didn't want to take up too much time, we skipped towards the end of the song

Put on your war paint

Liz and Kim started making their way towards the middle of the room, the signal for the rest of us to join them.

The war is won

Before it's begun

Release the doves

Surrender love

(Wave the white flag!)

The boys gasped as the finally realized that there was ten girls in the room. Anna and I reveled in our success.

Hey young blood

Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?

I'm gonna change you like a remix

Then I'll raise you like a phoenix

Wearing our vintage misery

No, I think it looked a little better on me

I'm gonna change you like a remix

Then I'll raise you like a phoenix

We reached the middle of the room and met with the others before making our way to where Solomon was standing at the double doors.

Hey young blood

Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?

I'm gonna change you like a remix

Then I'll raise you like a phoenix

Put on your war paint

We took a stance in front of the doors, Anna and I hid in the back of the group trying our hardest to avoid the gazes of the hundreds of boys in front of us.

We waited anxiously as the music faded. I don't know what reaction I expected but it certainly wasn't the one we got. The boys burst in the cheers. They wolf whistled and clapped and overall created more noise than they should have been able too.

Macey, Bex, Mick, Eva, Tina, and Courtney reveled in the attention while Anna, Kim, Liz and I blushed and shrunk back.

The headmaster stood at the podium and addressed all the student as a whole.

"Well what a wonderful way to start the morning." He said with a smile. "I'm sure you boys will do everything you can to make the ladies feel at home."

"Oh my gosh Cam look, there's Dr. Excellent." Macey said pulling me forward and offhandedly gesturing towards Dr. Steve.

I lowered my voice in an imitation of his and whispered. "Excellent." In her ear. Macey burst out laughing. We had made far too many jokes about his use of excellent when the boys were at Gallagher that carried on through the summer.

"Come on girls. The back table is yours." Solomon said as he led us through the mess we made. Macey laced her arm through mine keeping me close.

We walked in between the sophomore and juniors tables and we were headed right past where Zach, Grant, and Jonas sat. I planned on keeping hold of Macey and walking right past them without a second glance but that was thrown out the window when Zach wrapped his hand around my thigh (some of the only bare skin on me) and pulled me down for a kiss.

His lips crashed into mine as one of his hands grabbed my waist while the other remained on my thigh. I wrapped one of my hands around the back of his neck while I held the other behind my back, asking my sisters to get me out of here if it looked like the situation was about to get awkward. It was also a secret signal for Anna to pull me away if there were too many obvious eyes on what we were doing.

Approximately 15 seconds after I began kissing Zach he slowly pulled away, leaving our foreheads touching.

"Hi there Gallagher Girl." He said softly, brushing strand of hair out of my face.

Anna came up behind me and grabbed my hand. Eyes were all over us.

"Why hello there Zach." She greeted in response to his statement, causing me to laugh as she pulled me away.

"Thank you." I whispered as she pulled me to our table.

"Literally everyone was staring at you. Get ready for the interrogation." She replied as Bex pulled me into the seat next to her.

"Cammie, what the heck was that?" Macey asked with a wide grin on her face.

"I don't know!" I blushed.

"If what happened in June was a goodbye kiss, that was definitely a hello one." Bex agreed, grinning as widely as Macey.

"So what are you guys like, dating now?" Eva asked.

"I have no idea." I answered honestly.

"Do you want to be dating?" Tina asked.

"Maybe…?" I answered, blushing even deeper. The girls all giggled around me.

"I'll tell you one thing though, did anyone see Zach's face when he first spotted Cammie?" Mick asked. The girls all voiced their affirmatives. "He looked like a little kid on Christmas."

I dropped my face into my hands, trying to hide the blush.

"Oh check it out, he's staring at her." Courtney said gesturing towards where the boys were sitting.

"Stoooooop." I said laughing, the girls joining in. I swear every conversation in the grand hall stopped, trying to hear what we were talking about.

"Hey Cam, check out who's at the fruit bar." Bex said quietly nudging me.

I could assume it wasn't Zach because she would've made a bigger deal about it, trying to get all the girls in on the teasing so I subtly glanced in that direction. It was Jonas. I shot my eyes at Bex, a smile on my face. Now was our chance to get Jonas to ask Liz out.

"Hey we're gonna go grab some fruit." I announced grabbing Bex's arm and pulling her to her feet.

"Okay, will guys bring me an orange?" Macey asked.

"Yeah." Bex called over her shoulder as we practically ran to the fruit bar.

"Hey Bex." Jonas greeted as we got closer to him. "Hey Cammie. That was some kiss."

"Oh great, you too." I grumbled as he teased me lightly.

"Hey Jonas." Bex greeted cheerfully. "I've got a question for you."

"Shoot."

"What was up with that kiss this morning?" She asked

"Bex!" I whisper shouted.

"What? It's a legitimate question!" She replied.

"Not the one we were going to ask." I reminded her.

"Don't worry, I'm getting there. So Jonas, the kiss." She said turning back to a very confused Jonas.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Why did Zach kiss Cammie." Bex said plainly.

"Well he's been boasting for the past two weeks that he's got a girlfriend. Maybe that's got something to do with it." He said, then his eyes widened. "He meant Cammie. I'm absolutely sure he meant Cammie because he's been boasting that he's got a spy girlfriend and her name is-"

I cut him off.

"So we assumed Jonas, thanks for the clarification." I reassured him.

"So it turns out Zach _did_ consider you his girlfriend." Bex said shaking her head.

"I wish someone would've told me." I then switched to a whisper so low Jonas couldn't hear. "Might've changed some of my early summer activities."

Bex's eyes widened then shrunk again when she realized Jonas was there. She coughed a few times, made eye contact with me and then we whirled to look at Jonas.

"So Jonas. Back to the original purpose for coming over here. Do you like Liz?" Bex questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Well of course I do, Liz is a very friendly person. It'd be hard not to like her." He answered easily.

"No, Jonas, we mean do you _like_ like Liz." I clarified.

He stopped dead in his tracks and blushed. He looked at us, clearly flustered.

"Well, I mean Liz is beautiful of course. A-and she's really smart like reeeeaaaaalllly smart. Plus, plus-" We cut off his stammering.

"A yes or no will do Jonas." Bex said with a grin. "But it's no longer necessary, it's obvious you do."

He gulped. "How obvious? Because Nick says t-" We cut him off again.

"Not too obvious, don't worry Jonas. You should ask her out. Like right now." I suggested.

"We know for a fact she'll say yes." Bex added.

"What would I even say?" He asked pleading for help.

"Easy, ask her if she wants to help work on a new code or if she wants to see a new project you've been working on." I began. Bex took over.

"Then when she says yes you clarify that it's a date by saying something along the lines of 'it's a date' and then you will have successfully asked her out." She finished.

"It sounds so easy when you say it like that." He said wide eyed.

"It is that easy. Do you have something nerdy you can show her or do with her?" I asked.

"Oh yeah there's this new program that I was working on over the summer that takes the measurements-" He began animatedly describing it to us and Bex cut him off before he could get too into it.

"Sounds perfect, let's go." Bex said grabbing his hand and pulling him toward our table.

I quickly grabbed an orange for Macey and apples for Bex and me before following behind.

"Go on." I whispered as I brushed past Jonas and sat next to Bex.

I threw Macey her orange and rolled Bex her apple while we all looked at a gulping Jonas.

"Hi Jonas." Macey said kindly.

"H-hi Macey. Hi Liz." He let out quietly.

"Hi Jonas." Liz said, blushing.

"Jonas has a question for you Lizzie. Don't you Jonas?" I announced, trying to help him along.

"Y-yeah. Do you wanna meet up later and help me with a new program I've been working on?" He finally got out.

"I would love too." Liz said shyly, with a huge grin on her face.

"Great." He looked at Bex and I for support and confirmation. We gestured him along. "It's a date."

He spun on his heel and high-tailed it away from our table. We all grinned wildly and gave Liz looks of expectation. She was blushing like crazy and had a grin bigger than I thought could fit on her face.

"Well Lizzie?" Macey asked with a knowing look.

"That...was the best thing that's ever happened to me." She said as she looked after a still blushing Jonas.

We all turned to look at Jonas and must have managed to catch him just as he was telling the boys what happened because everyone in earshot burst into cheers while Jonas' blush renewed itself. As the boys cheered we laughed and smiled at their enthusiasm.

"Don't think I haven't forgotten about what you mentioned earlier. I'm just waiting until we're back in our room to pounce." Bex whispered to me over the noise.

I looked at her and nodded. I'd been looking for the perfect opportunity to bring it up to my friends and I had just found it.

"Ladies. I hate to cut your breakfast short but it appears that the uniforms have finally arrived and were taken to your room. The headmaster would appreciate it if you would go and put them on, so you no longer distract the male students." Solomon's clenched jaw told us what he really thought about us 'distracting the male students'.

One of the best things about Solomon was he wasn't a typical male, well he used to be but by this point, he had just spent too much time at Gallagher which is obviously dominated by the female gender. He thought if a guy was distracted by what girls wore than it was the guy's problem and he should have to deal with it. He hated that girls were typically expected to conform to their counterparts needs. We didn't mind. The more they applied gender stereotypes and the more they thought they had us farther under control, the farther we would slip away. Underestimation was a Gallagher Girls greatest tool.

We all rose to our feet and made our way to our little section of the school, needlessly following Solomon. He probably had something else to tell us when there were less ears to overhear.

True to Solomon's information, there was a box of uniforms waiting. There were three for each girl but we had ordered more. They were probably on back order. We quickly sliced into the box and Macey handed the uniforms out with quick precision.

We all ran off to our separate corridors to change. As soon as the door shut, Bex pounced.

"Cammie, what did you really do the weeks we were apart this summer?" Bex asked as the latched closed.

"What are you talking about Bex?" Macey questioned as she began to change.

"Cammie apparently had some secret interesting activities this summer." Bex then relayed our conversation from earlier and as soon as she was finished, Liz and Macey had turned on me too.

"Yeah Cammie, what did you really do this summer?" Liz repeated Bex's earlier question.

"Well...Let's just say that my grandparents hired a new ranch hand." I said vaguely as I turned away and began to change.

"Oh no you don't." Macey lept over two beds before grabbing my shoulders and whirling me around, Bex and Liz on her heels.

"You can't just leave it there." Bex agreed.

"Tell us about your interesting summer with this new ranch hand." Liz prompted.

"Well...not much exciting happened. We didn't fall in love if that's what you're thinking, he ran off because he didn't want to go to the college his parents planned on sending him too. Pops found him and offered him a job over winter break. We got close, but not too close. He was like...my best friend. I almost told him the truth about Gallagher. He convinced me to live life to the fullest so I did some things that I wouldn't normally have done, including going to some parties with people that I normally would've avoided and spending some...quality time with some guys I usually wouldn't have given the time of day." I confided in them. "It was nothing serious with those guys, summer flings that I probably won't see again. Nothing happened."

"Wow...you dated more civilians?" Bex asked. "And you didn't mention it before now?"

"It wasn't dating! It was more...make-out sessions in the barn." I objected.

"So it was kinda friends with benefits?" Macey asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Oh, I've done that. It's no big deal." She waved it off and continued changing.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed as I followed her example.

"So how many guys?" Liz asked.

"More than 3, that's all I'm going to say."

"Wow, that many? Cam, we were only apart for like, 10 days at most!" Liz reminded me.

"I know!"

"So were you...benefitting more than one guy at a time?" Bex asked.

"It sounds so dirty...yeah I was. And they all knew about the others. It was mostly at parties so most people assumed I was drunk anyway." I told them.

"Which you weren't?" Liz clarified.

"Of course not!" I reassured her then quickly changed topics. "So Lizzie...your date with Jonas?"

She blushed again. "Let's talk about it later, the others are probably waiting for us." We giggled at our adorable friend before we finished changing and ran out to meet the other girls in the common room.

It turns out that we were the first ones ready because Solomons eyebrows shot up when we entered the room. He surveyed our admittedly short skater skirts, fashionably tight blouses, thigh high socks, and oxford shoes with a careful eye then he grinned widely.

"So you girls didn't like the original uniforms I assume?" He asked, obviously amused.

"Are you joking? They were horrible." Macey answered. He grinned wider.

"This is going to be one interesting semester." He told us as he shook his head lightly.

"What, you don't think this is what the headmaster was hoping for when he asked us to go change?" I asked innocently as I twirled lightly in my skirt, knowing very well it would fly up just enough that it would drive the teenage boys' hormones crazy.

"I certainly hope it's not." Bex said as she undid the top button of her blouse and loosened her tie.

"Where are the others?" Liz asked.

"I'm not sure. Would you mind hurrying them along? We've got classes to get to." He gestured to the door across from ours.

"Yeah we'll kick them into gear. Be back in a flash." Macey replied, leading us to the door.

"I hope everyone's decent, we're opening the door." Bex called as she kicked the door in.

"Chop chop ladies, we've got places to go and boys to show up." I added as we went through the doorway.

"We're almost done!" Tina called as she pulled on her shoes.

"Tina's almost done. The rest of us are ready." Mick corrected from where she stood by the door.

"Alright, alright I'm done. Let's go." Tina said hopping to her feet.

We returned to Solomon, all ten girls ready.

"Take a seat for a moment ladies. We need to talk." He informed us and gestured to the couches.

We split in half and sat on the couches, looking expectantly at him. He began his speech.

"Now...as you can tell this isn't Gallagher. I'm impressed with how you girls prepared yourselves for Blackthorne. You came with an arsenal and you seem ready to fight, that's good. You'll need your fire and spunk to keep you alive here, these boys are vicious and brutal. They aren't going to be afraid to come at you with everything they have so you'll need to watch out for each other and protect each other. Blackthorne is an excellent school with one major flaw. They enforce the idea of independence. These boys can't rely on each other and that is their greatest weakness. Your greatest strength here will be your sisterhood. Keep it guarded and safe, don't lose it. That being said, let's get you to class." He smiled at us and we all climbed to our feet, grabbing our backpacks.

We congregated in a clump as we walked down the halls. We started with the nearest classroom and worked our way across the campus. Tina, Kim, and Mick went to a history class. Bex, and Macey went to some sort of math related class. Courtney, and Anna went to a science class. Finally Solomon deposited Liz and I at our first class of the day, a class on foreign languages.

"So sorry to interrupt, but I have some new students for you." Solomon said as he burst through the door, Liz and I following quietly behind him.

"So it would appear." The teacher said woefully. "Well, they can take their seats in the back of the class for now. I hope you girls speak Latin."

I made eye contact with Liz who lightly rolled her eyes. Latin was something we taught seventh graders, it's the base of the most popular foreign languages. It would be irresponsible to teach any other language beforehand. It was the first language we learned and the one we got the most practice with, this class would be easy.

"Seeing as walking each girl to her class all week would be inappropriate would you mind assigning guides for my students?" Solomon asked interrupting the teacher once more. The teacher gave Solomon the stink eye.

"Of course. How foolish of me." He said sarcastically. "Blondie, your guide will be Thomas-" Solomon cut him off once more.

"It may have escaped your notice, but they are both blonde." Solomon said slowly, as if speaking to a child. I fought the urge to laugh and hoped violently that a fight would break out.

"Well then, if you had told me their names this wouldn't have been a problem." Our new teacher huffed. Oh they definitely had a past, and not a pleasant one.

"This lovely lady on my left is Elizabeth Sutton, and the equally lovely lady on her left is Cameron Morgan." The subtle emphasis on my last name did not escape my notice.

"Thank you. Cameron your guide will be Thomas, Elizabeth yours will be Connor." Thomas raised his hand when his name was called, as did Connor. As if we didn't know who they were.

"Thank you. I will leave them in your care." Solomon glared at our teacher once more before exiting the classroom. I knew I would see him in cov ops in a couple hours, but I was a little freaked out when he left. I looked at Lizzie once and calmed down just a little.

Liz and I took our seats in the back of the class and we each pulled out a notebook and began writing down what was on the board. It was very basic stuff, easy as pie for Liz and I. We quickly became the teachers favorite students as we answered questions accurately and it became clear that we were surpassing the boys in the subject. The class was over quickly and then we were on our way to our next class.

Connor and Liz left for some science nerd class while Thomas lead me to our next class. While we walked, we chatted.

"So, Cammie Morgan." He said with a grin as we dodged the crush of students.

"So, Thomas Williams." I countered with a smile.

"Should I be worried that your boyfriend is going to pummel me for talking to you?" He asked.

"I certainly hope not. I kinda need to talk to you if I'm going to figure out how to survive in this school." I joked and he laughed.

"Good. What do you think of Blackthorne so far?"

"It's pretty different."

"You can say that again." He rolled his eyes. "Is it bad that I miss Gallagher?"

I laughed. "No way, Gallagher is great."

"So what classes do you have? I doubt we're lucky enough to have all of them together." He asked.

"Um...Foreign languages, History, Math, and Cov ops before lunch then P&E, that weapons class, and science today. The rest of the week is similar." I informed him.

He thought about his own schedule as I told him mine, thinking about which ones we had together and had separately.

"Wow we got lucky, the only classes we don't have together are math and science. I have math last and science when you have math but luckily the cov op tracks math and science classes are held in the same hall. It shouldn't be too difficult to get you where you need to be." He told me with a smile. "You worried about the weapons class?"

"Not really. I've used weapons before and we knew this was coming so I've had some time to get used to the idea." I informed him.

"How long have you known this is really a school for assassins?" He asked as we entered our next classroom.

"A while." I answered vaguely as we went to speak with the teacher.

"Hey Mr. Sharp. This is Cammie." Thomas introduced me to the teacher.

"How wonderful to meet you Cammie." He shook my hand firmly and smiled. "I'm Mr. Sharp."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." I replied politely.

"So Thomas I assume you are Cammie's guide." Mr. Sharp said clapping loudly once.

"Yes sir I am."

"Then I will seat you near each other. We want to make sure you're available if she needs help. Not that I think you will if you are at all similar to the girls I had last period. Quite impressive these Gallagher Girls." He said with a wink in my direction.

"Thanks Mr. Sharp. Should Cammie just take Garrett's seat?" He asked.

"I think that will work." He said with a nod.

"Awesome. Come on Cam." Thomas said waving me towards the left of the classroom.

We sat in the third row back to the far left and waited for class to start.

"Mr. Sharp seems cool." I noted while we sat.

"Oh yeah definitely. Most of the teachers here are like him, only a few are as awful as our last teacher." He agreed.

"What was the last teacher's name?" I asked curiously.

"No one knows. He insist we call him sir and that's all anyone addresses him as. He's kind of a recluse so we're not sure on much." He informed me.

"Wow...that's so insane." I commented.

Thomas laughed a little. "No joke. He seems a little more crazy as the years go by. The juniors have a pool to see when he's finally going to crack."

I laughed. "I might have to get in on that."

"You should. I've got a bet down that he'll crack sometime this year. Maybe you can help me make that happen." Thomas joked, but I could tell he was a little serious.

"Well I'm sure between me and the rest of the Gallagher Girls we could make it happen. He's got no idea what we're capable of."

"If anyone could do it, it'd be you girls." He said jokingly. "Uh oh...here comes trouble."

He nodded towards the door with his head and I turned to see Zach and Grant enter the room, laughing at something obviously hilarious.

"What, they really that bad?" I asked with a smile.

"Depends on whether or not you're on their good side." Thomas told me subtly.

"Gallagher Girl!" Zach yelled jumping over desks until he reached my side. He tipped my head up and kissed me gently. "Looks like we've got a class together."

"Looks like it." I agreed. "Hi Grant."

"Hey Cam." He smiled as he took a seat in front of Thomas.

"Too bad we sit on opposite sides of the classroom." Zach said with a frown.

"Maybe now you'll focus." Grant joked and Zach whacked him lightly on the head.

"Go on and sit down Zach, we can talk after class." I said squeezing his hand. "The bell's gonna ring."

Right on cue the bell let out it's shrill cry and Zach kissed my hand before crossing the classroom to his seat.

Mr. Sharp quickly gained control of the classroom and began a lecture on some of the Myths of ancient Greece. We had covered most of the myths in our worksheets from Gallagher so in addition to my lecture notes, I pulled out a piece of evapo paper and scribbled a note to Thomas.

What did you mean earlier? About Grant and Zach?

I passed it to him subtly, not a soul in the class noticed. He received the note without a glance in my direction keeping the teachers and the students notice from landing on us. He slipped the note open, read it quickly, scrawled a reply and passed it back to me.

 **Grant's not so bad. Zach's...different. He spends too much time with the seniors. Goes to his head.**

I read over the reply and thought carefully about my reply before switching my pencil from one sheet of paper to the other.

Is there anything I should know?

I passed the note to Thomas for what was hopefully the last time. The reply came quickly.

 **Be careful.**

I quickly stuck the piece of paper in my mouth, letting the mint flavor engulf my tongue. The rest of the class passed without too much stress but we did get a pretty nasty looking homework assignment.

Math was an absolute headache but I had it with Mick and with Anna so it hopefully wouldn't be too bad. Finally, finally it was time for cove ops.

We practically ran to the concealed stairway that lead to the sublevels and anxiously took our seats, almost all the Gallagher girls had this class with me in addition to Grant and Zach. Mr Solomon was nowhere to be seen but the Blackthorne teacher sat silently at his desk. He was ancient, I swear this guy had to be like 90.

"That's your cov ops teacher?" I whispered to Thomas.

"Yep." He replied at normal volume. "You don't have to whisper, the guy's practically deaf. Most of our classes consist of powerpoints and videos. The real training comes from our weapons class."

"Sounds like quite the class." I commented.

"Oh it is. I think you'll like it." Just then Solomon stuck his head in the door and said two magical words.

"Field trip." We quickly climbed to our feet and followed him back up the stairs and into a Blackthorne bus.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, today will be a review of the basics. You will each need to complete a brush pass which should be simple enough. You have an hour. Good luck."

"Mr. S, do you want us to do all of this in our uniforms?" Garrett asked uneasily.

"Yes Mr. Smith." He answered as if it were obvious.

"But sir-" Thomas tried.

"No excuses, Mr. Williams. You will do whatever it takes to complete your mission." Mr. Solomon said sharply.

"Yes sir." Thomas mumbled.

I made eye contact with each of the girls, trying to see if anyone had any sort of information on what the big deal was. It was a no go, no one had any idea what was going on. Looks like we would have to wait and see. I hate surprises.

"So Gallagher Girl." Zach began from where he shoved someone aside to sit next to me.

"Yes?" Anna asked cheekily from a few seats away.

The Gallagher Girls burst into laughter, and I joined them. Zach tried again.

"Gallagher Girl-" Bex cut him off this time.

"What do you bloody want Zach?" She asked irritably. Looks Anna had just started a revolution. Zach sighed.

"You all know I'm trying to talk to Cammie." He stated.

"Oh really?" Macey questioned innocently "I couldn't tell. If only there were a way to signify that you were speaking directly to her." She finished sarcastically. I fought the urge to giggle.

"Wait, wait, hold on a second. Isn't there something strange that does just that?" Tina asked wide eyed. "Help me out here guys."

"Hmmm...it's on the tip of my tongue!" Courtney announced dramatically. The urge to laugh grew stronger.

"I'm drawing a blank." Mick told everyone.

"Would you ladies happen to be referencing a _name_?" Grant put in helpfully, just as innocently as my sisters had phrased their statements. I couldn't help it, I burst into laughter.

Zach rolled his eyes. "Alright I get your point." He looked at me. "How can you think this is funny?"

"Because it is!" I exclaimed while struggling to control my laughter.

He sighed and rolled his eyes but gave me a small smile. I grinned at him and response and as soon as I was sure that my laughter was under control I finally asked him what he was trying to tell me.

"It was a question actually. What do you think of Blackthorne so far?" Zach asked.

"It's great." I replied earnestly.

"Is Thomas being nice to you?" He asked nonchalantly but there seemed to be an underlying threat in the question.

"He's been a great guide. Very nice." I answered honestly. I thought I heard Thomas exhale in relief next to me.

"Good. You excited for this mission?" He asked sitting up slightly. He was obviously excited for this mission.

"I'm excited to see what your Roseville is like." I replied.

His face fell. "Our Roseville is...quite different from yours."

"How so?" I questioned.

"You'll see." He said mysteriously.

"I hate surprises." I grumbled.

He didn't reply.

The rest of the drive was silent. When we reached our destination, Solomon handed out coms and we all placed them in our ears.

We split and went different directions, Zach grabbing my hand. We were soon joined by Bex and Grant. It took a few minutes for the coms to get online but as soon as they were we heard just one phrase.

"Boys against girls." Solomon announced through the system and automatically we switched.

Bex and I broke off from Zach and Grant without a word. All four of us continued on as if we had never been together in the first place. We played the part of snobby rich girls as we waited for our turn with the brush pass. Eventually, Eva passed a small token to Bex after we 'found' each other in the middle of the town. Hugs and smiles were exchanged, and even air kisses on cheeks. The token was passed perfectly and then Bex and I made our way around town before 'accidentally' dropping the token to Mick. Only two girls hadn't had the token yet, we had no idea how the boys were doing. Bex and I continued on our merry way for another five minutes before trouble struck.

Apparently all the teens had been in school up until now because all of the sudden there was a flood of hatred coming from a group of newly arrived high schoolers. They glared and spit in our direction, nothing new, but then one of them even went so far as to start throwing things at Courtney and Anna. The difference between our Roseville and theirs was clear, these townies were violent.

The boys bore their threats and attacks with sneers and haughtiness so the Gallagher Girls followed their example. Bex and I managed to avoid a good chunk of it, my ability to blend helping quite a bit, but we weren't able to avoid it for long.

"Hey check it out, we've got some more over here." Some teenage boy called to his violent friends.

"Do they think they're being subtle?" I whispered to Bex as they attempted to sneak closer to us.

"I certainly hope not. They're incredibly obvious." She replied, and just as we had before we began to walk in the other direction.

Only this time when we tried to walk in the other direction, we were met by more teens, these ones were more confrontational.

"Where are you going little rich girls?" One taunted.

"No where you can afford to be." I retorted rudely.

"Ooooh." The teens behind him let out lowly.

He sniffed and touched his thumb to his nose.

"You're gonna pay for that little rich girl." He said.

"Sorry, I've already donated to charity this month." Bex replied without missing a step.

He looked murderous. The other teens around us all backed away. Then Zach and Grant were there. I wish I could say they came out of nowhere but I saw them coming from down the street. Zach threw an arm around my shoulder and Grant wrapped his arms around Bex's waist. If she wasn't under cover, he'd be throttled.

"Well well well, it if isn't little Tommy Culver." Zach said in a condescending voice.

"Goode." Tommy growled. "This your pet?"

"Now Tommy, that isn't very nice. What would your mother say?" Zach pressed sarcastically.

"Shove off Goode!" Tommy yelled.

"Careful Tommy, you never know who's around the corner." Zach replied, unconcerned.

"I don't care who's around the corner!" Tommy exclaimed, extremely frustrated.

"Whew. What a temper." Zach continued calmly.

"Oh come on Zach, it's obvious. He's mad you didn't answer his question." Grant put in mildly.

"Right, I almost forgot. Tommy, this is my girlfriend Cammie. Isn't she pretty?" Zach asked with a smile.

I grinned at him charmingly. For extra measure I threw in a wink and a smile. I was so glad Macey had done my makeup that morning.

"I've seen better." Tommy growled.

"Well I seriously doubt that." Zach said as he pulled me a little closer. "She's prettier than all the girls in this town combined."

"Aww." I cooed before reaching up and kissing him.

This threw Tommy over the edge.

"Knock it off Goode, I'm warning you." He said in an angry kind of quiet.

In response, Zach pulled me closer, wrapping one arm tighter around my waist and the other sliding down my thigh.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist Tommy." Grant called as Tommy growled in frustration. "Just cause Zach can a get a girl and you can't-"

Tommy cut Grant off by charging at Zach. Now normally, I would've leapt aside and punched Tommy in the throat, but this wasn't normally so I had to let Zach spin away pulling me with him.

Zach let out a cruel sort of laugh. "Torro! Torro!" He called as if he were in a bullfight. Grant, Bex, and I dutifully laughed as Tommy charged once more and Zach dodged again. As Tommy continued to throw uncoordinated swings at Zach, and Zach continued to dodge Tommy grew increasingly agitated and Zach laughed louder and louder.

"Whoa there little buddy, don't hurt yourself." Zach taunted as he easily dodged Tommy's swipes. The taunts continued. "Careful, you almost fell there. Ooooh, so close. I'm over here now big guy."

After about five minutes of watching Tommy unsuccessfully fight Zach, I decided it was time to go.

"Zach, let's go. I'm bored." I whined, playing the part of rich heiress perfectly.

"Alright." Zach said simply before sticking his foot out, tripping Tommy and sauntered back over to where I stood, throwing an arm over my shoulder without a care in the world.

"See you next time Tommy. I wish you better luck." Grant called as we walked away.

As soon as we were out of earshot, Zach let out a sigh.

"I hate doing that. I feel like a bully." He told us softly.

"It's a cover Zach. You're not really like that." I reminded him.

"I know but still…" He said shaking his head.

"I know what you mean. I feel like such a jerk." Grant said guiltily.

"I'm so glad the Roseville townies don't force us to act like that too often." Bex sighed and I agreed.

"Head back to the van." Solomon's voice came on over the coms and we all filed obediently back to our teacher.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I love updating guys but I'll update lots faster if I get reviews!**

Chapter 7

As we all took our seats in the van and started back for Blackthorne, I took the chance to observe my sisters as well as the boys from Blackthorne. The guys looked awful. They had all avoided physical fights, thankfully, but they felt guilty. They knew that treating other human beings like dirt was wrong but they also knew that they had to, for everyone's safety.

The girls had a sense of disillusionment. Sure, we'd all had some pretty rough days at Roseville but nothing like that. We'd all had to delve very deep into our covers that day however each one of us looked more resolved than ever to do everything that we could to make it through our schooling to be able to go out in the world and help people, to do something important with our lives. Not a single one of us regretted our choice to join the Covert Operations track that day.

Solomon was quiet, and not in the usual way. He kept his mask up as usual so I couldn't tell what he was thinking but I could tell that something was different. We reached the school and Solomon told us all to follow him back to the subs. We followed in silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen I wanted to remind you of something today. Those people out there will never know who you are. They will never know what you have done and what you will do to protect them. There is no glory in this line of work so if you are looking for recognition, now is the time to bow out gracefully. This life is hard and it's a lot of work. It may not perfect and of course there are it's drawbacks so you need to decide now if you think it's worth it. You need to decide if it's worth it to go without the recognition but to know that you are doing the right thing." He dismissed the class and we all filed out to go to lunch.

Solomon's speech was worth thinking about. Was it worth it? There was so much pain and fear that came in this line of work...I'd seen it first hand. I know how hard it is. Then why was I here? Was it because my parents were spies? Or was it because I wanted to be there.

I looked around at my friends, my best friends, my sisters. These girls would be there for me through every single up and down that this line of work would throw at me, we had something binding us together that could never be broken. While we still had our secrets, we were closer than any group of civilians I had ever encountered. It was worth it. They were why I was here.

"So girls." I said throwing one arm around Macey and another around Bex. "We're halfway through our first day at Blackthorne. How do you think it's going?"

"Well, they're more subtle about their staring than other guys so I guess that's a plus." Macey informed us, checking her nails.

"I'm so ready to hit someone. They keep wolf whistling at me." Bex growled. Macey perked up.

"So does that mean you-know-who is finally giving you attention?" Macey questioned.

"No. He's the only one that hasn't. I'm ready to hit him the hardest." Bex grumbled angrily.

"What about you Macey? Anyone tickle your fancy yet?" I asked.

"Maybe. Your boyfriend's new roommate is someone I am quite familiar with. He might be worth my time." She said nonchalantly.

"Who is it?" Bex asked.

"Nick Hale." She replied in a soft voice.

"As in second in line to take over the Hale company?" I asked wide eyed.

"As in W.W. Hale's younger brother?" Bex questioned.

"The very same. We've been to a couple of the same functions but we haven't really met before. Until today. He's my guide." She confided in us.

Bex and I made eye contact before grinning widely.

"This is perfect!" Bex whisper yelled.

"What is?" Liz asked as she joined us as we made our way to the grand hall.

"Macey's got a crush on someone who is absolutely perfect for her." I told Liz confidently.

"Who is it?" Liz asked excitedly.

"W.W. Hale's younger brother, Nicholas Hale." Bex announced proudly.

Liz's eyes widened. "That is absolutely perfect. You have to get him to ask you out!"

"I'm...considering it." Macey said carefully before she broke into a smile. We laughed as we watched the smile take over her face. She was head over heels for this guy.

The girls ahead of us glanced over their shoulders at us, took one look at Macey and joined us in our laughter and excitement. Macey was quickly being bombarded with questions. She shushed them all as we noticed the eyes that were on us. We hurried to our table and took our seats before huddling in close as Macey told the rest of the girls what was going on. When they were all up to speed there was a lot of excited squealing and clapping.

"Macey this is so awesome. How long do you think it's going to take him to ask you out?" Tina exclaimed in a whisper. We'd rather not have an entire school of boys know all our business.

"Dunno. I hope soon." Macey said as a sort of glow took over her face. She had dropped her cover and was being honest about how much she like him, it was great.

"Same. Can we get food now?" Bex plead as she glanced longingly at the food spread out in buffet style.

Macey laughed. "Sure Bex. Coming with us Cam? Liz?"

Liz and I hurried to climb out of our seats and followed them to the food. Macey went to grab a salad, while Bex, Liz, and I filled our plates with a mixture of fruit, vegetables, and a sandwich made to our individual tastes.

"Oh my gosh you guys, check out who found Macey." Bex whispered as a teenage boy tapped Macey on the shoulder.

I recognized Nicholas Hale from the few pictures I had seen on the internet. Not much was known about him, mostly people only cared out his dad and his brother so he managed to stay out of the spotlight. He was a mystery. That would have to be rectified.

"It looks like it's going well." Liz whispered as we covertly watched them while they had their conversation.

"She's nodding, he just asked her out." Bex decided.

"Well she certainly looks happy." I agreed.

Macey finished making her salad and turned to walk back to the table, the three of us hurrying to catch up with her.

"So?" I asked when we got closer.

She sighed. "He asked me. We've got a study date for later. He's still not caught up to Blackthorne's standards so he's coming to the common room to work with me." She informed us.

I smiled widely and congratulated my friend, trying my hardest not to squeal. We reached our table and informed the girls of what had happened at the salad bar before hurrying to finish eating so we could get ready for Bex's favorite class. P&E.

We hurried to our rooms to grab our P&E stuff after eating before making our way to the gym where P&E was held. We had all asked for directions from our guides before leaving the grand hall and from piecing together what they told us, we managed to make it to the gym fairly quickly.

"Well you must be the Gallagher Girls." The coach stated as we entered the gym.

"Yes sir." Macey answered for us. The burly man examined us carefully before directing us to the room that we could use as a changing room while at Blackthorne.

"Things get tough here at Blackthorne. I hope you girls are up to it." He said plainly before turning his back on us and heading back to his office.

"Well I hope you're plagued by-" Mick began quietly as he stalked off but Tina stopped her from finishing her curse.

"Come on girls, let's go change." Macey said, carefully watching the P&E coach.

We slipped into our matching P&E uniforms, a simple pair of red exercise shorts paired with a black t-shirt and a red sports bra underneath before slipping on our sneakers and re entering the gym.

A few of the boys had entered the gym, already changed, while we were gone. Some wore plain t-shirts, some didn't but one thing was plain about these boys. They were all absolutely gorgeous. I don't know what it is but I absolutely go crazy for muscular guys. I suppose you could say they were my type.

We fell into our normal routine as we stretched and waited for the coach to come out of his office. We went to different areas of the gym as more of the guys we knew appeared. Bex, Liz, Macey, and I split off to go and talk to Grant, Jonas, Nick, and Zach. Mick was chatting with Thomas while Tina and Eva flirted with Andrew and Peter a few feet away. Anna and Courtney were sending looks to Sam and Jake from across the gym who were sending looks back. All in all, the Gallagher Girls were having a fabulous time practicing their flirting.

"Alright class circle up." The coach called, a clipboard in his hand. "Today we're going back to basics. I want a nine mile run done by the end of class. Get to it." He announced before turning around and going back to his office.

"Is that really all he does?" I asked Zach.

"Pretty much. Sometimes he just writes out what we're supposed to do on the board and stays in his office the whole time." He replied as we began to run.

"Wow. Where do you get most of your training?" I questioned.

"The weapons class." He responded with a grin.

"I've heard so much about this weapons class. I'm starting to get excited." I told him with a smile.

"What've you heard?" He asked.

"Only that everything worth happening happens in there." I said vaguely.

"You would be correct. That class is awesome. I get the feeling you're going to like it." He told me before winking and picking up his pace to go and talk to Grant.

I picked up my own pace until I was next to Bex. She greeted me cheerfully and I returned the greeting.

"So you wanna show these guys what Gallagher Girls are really made of?" She asked with a glint in her eye.

"Absolutely." I replied, I already knew what she had in mind.

We both sped up and overtook those that were in the front of the group. We maintained our speed as we completed the nine miles, lapping the slowest runners and finishing long before anyone else. We walked a lap to cool down and stretched then realized there was still about an hour left in class. There was only thing to do.

We waved to our friends before scooping our clothes and returning to our room to shower. We each took fast showers, getting rid of the sweat before curling our hair and reapplying our makeup. We finished with 15 minutes left in the class period. We decided to go back to the gym to meet our friends (and to figure out how to get to the weapons class, our guides were back there).

Everyone was in the locker room changing so Bex and I passed the time doing handsprings and working on our gymnastics. Quite the task in skirts.

Unsurprisingly, the guys were the first ones ready. Thomas was among them, Zach was not.

"Wow, nice one Cammie." Thomas complimented as I finished a back walkover.

"Thanks." I replied cheerfully as I glanced to see Bex talking to her guide, Andrew.

"I have no idea how you girls manage to do that." Thomas said shaking his head.

"It takes practice more than anything else." I told him honestly.

"Do you think you can teach me how to do it?" He asked hopefully.

"Yeah, if we're dedicated." I said with a smile.

"Well I've got nothing but dedication." He said with a grin and I laughed.

Then all the sudden Zach was there, I swear he practically appeared out of thin air. Okay, not really I saw him leave the locker room with the rest of the guys but he was on the other side of the gym joking with the other guys. Or, he had been.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and adopted a slightly bored posture. His muscles were tight though, he seemed to be...jealous? Where was Macey when I needed her?!

"Hey Zach." I greeted when he didn't say anything.

"Hi Cam." He said with a grin and a kiss.

"Hi Zach." Thomas greeted when Zach ignored him.

"Oh hey Thomas." Zach said calmly, wrapping his arm tighter around me.

"So Cam, we should probably get to class…" Thomas said, eyeing Zach. He seemed to sense something I didn't.

"I can walk Cammie to class." Zach said with a small edge to his voice. Uh oh.

"Well, I'm Cammie's guide, so." Thomas said standing up slightly straighter and crossing his arms. I tried desperately to catch Bex's eye.

"Well we're going to same place, so." Zach retorted.

"I've got to introduce Cammie to the teacher and make sure she's comfortable. I've kinda been assigned." Thomas argued, annoyance seeping through his voice. I didn't see what the big deal was.

"Hey Cam, come here a sec." Macey called from where she stood by Nick across the gym.

Thank the freaking stars.

"Coming!" I called back as I pulled free from Zach. I ran across the gym and gratefully stood by Macey.

"Hey, you looked like you could use a rescue." Macey explained as I reached her.

"Thank you, I desperately needed one." I confided.

"Oh, Nick this is Cammie, Cammie this is Nick." Macey introduced quickly.

"Hey." I said with a wave.

"Hi." He said with a nod and a smile.

"So what was going on over there?" Macey asked curiously.

"I have absolutely no idea. Thomas was all 'Let's go to class.' Then Zach was like 'Oh no you don't, I'll take her.' Then there was like, a battle of wills and I'm not sure who won." I explained quickly.

I glanced over to where Zach and Thomas had been standing, but they had retreated to different corners. Zach now stood by Grant and Jonas while Thomas was talking to Bex and Andrew. Thomas must've mentioned what happened because Bex glanced to where I stood with Macey and quickly made her way over to us.

"Odd. You know Zach better than I do, any reason he'd flip?" Macey asked Nick.

"I haven't known Zach for much longer than you guys have but it sounds like he's jealous." Nick commented, crossing his arms.

"I see that…" Macey agreed, nodding her head.

"I don't...Thomas is just my guide." I pointed out, quite confused.

"Hey Cam, what happened?" Bex asked nodding towards Thomas.

"I have no idea." I answered honestly.

"Zach's jealous." Macey told her when Bex looked at her.

"Oh. Yeah I see that." Bex said nodding her head.

"I still don't." I informed them, still very much confused. Nick explained it to me.

"Guys are possessive, it's like encoded in our DNA. Zach doesn't like the fact that another guy is spending so much time with you, it makes him nervous. Rationally he knows nothing is going to happen, but it's the very small chance that something might that freaks him out. He's trying to stake his claim and make it obvious that if Thomas tries anything with you, he'll pummel him." He said plainly.

I nodded as he explained. It made sense that way.

"So...what do I do?" I asked.

"Nothing. He'll get it out of his system and everything will be fine." He advised.

Bex raised an eyebrow at that.

"You honestly think she should sit back and do nothing." Bex phrased it as a statement, but it was a question.

"Well yeah, if she goes to him and tries to deny it, it will just make him suspicious. If anything it will convince him that something's going on accomplishing the exact opposite of it's intention." He explained further.

"That's actually kind of genius." Macey admitted while Bex and I stared at her, slack jawed. "What?" She asked when she saw our faces.

"Who are you and what have you done with Macey?" I asked, only half joking. She rolled her eyes.

"I never said I knew everything. You guys were the ones that convinced me that there was always more to learn, remember?" She defended.

"Right…" I said still keeping an eye on her. "So what should I do about who's walking me to class?"

"Easy, I'll walk you. I'm already taking Macey. You can say you have to talk to Macey about something girly and they'll both back off." He said with a shrug.

"Oh I _like_ him, can we keep him?" I said gesturing to Nick. Macey smiled.

"Sure Cam, we'll keep him around." She replied, sneakily glancing at him. Nick smiled a little.

"I'm glad I've been accepted. Shall we?" He asked as the bell rang, offering Macey his arm.

"We shall." Macey said taking his arm.

"Well Cam, it's time for class." Thomas said walking up to me, Zach hot on his heels.

"Sorry guys, I've got something kinda important to talk to Macey about. It's um...girl talk. Nick said he would make sure we got to class alright though." I explained quickly.

Zach glanced at his friend before nodding his agreement. Thomas just seemed glad it wasn't Zach taking me. They both nodded to me and called their goodbyes before retreating to their individual groups.

I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad that worked." I breathed.

"Stick with me kid, I'll keep you out of trouble." Nick said with a wink.

Macey laughed.

"Cammie, out of trouble. That's a good one." She said with an eye roll. "She attracts more trouble than I've been able to cause in my entire life."

"That's so not true." I argued.

"Oh it's totally true, think about it Cam. It's like you're a magnet." She said smiling at me. "It's what makes you Cammie."

I thought about it for a second. Ever since I started Gallagher, I'd been getting myself into quite a few sticky situations. I always assumed it was Bex. Well there was that one time with Liz...and that thing with Anna…

"Alright, you win. I'm a trouble magnet." I admitted. "But you have to admit, it does make your life more fun."

"Much more fun." Macey agreed.

I don't see what all the fuss about the weapons class was for. We didn't really do much, although it was just our first day. We spent the class period demonstrating our skills for the teacher, Mark. We went over fighting positions, some cove ops stuff, and he even had us go to the shooting range to see what we were capable of. Soon enough the class was over and we were all off to our last classes for the day.

Thomas walked me to my science class before heading to his math class and I quickly attached myself to Bex who had that class with me. We sat in the back of the room, trying not to make too much of a disaster as we attempted to do the experiment. We didn't burn the classroom to the ground so I guess there's that. Finally we left the rowdy boys behind and found our way to quietness that accompanied the common room that we shared with the rest of the girls.

I sighed as I dropped my backpack by the door, Bex following my lead.

"Sweet, sweet sanctuary." Bex announced as we kicked off our shoes.

"Seriously though. I forgot how immature guys were." I agreed as we flopped down on the couch.

"How much homework did you get?" Bex asked.

"Hardly any. So weird." I told her. "You?"

"Same. I don't want to do it though."

"Well obviously. It's homework. What class is it for?"

"My history class."

"Sharp?"

"No, Gunt."

"Lame. We could've done it together."

"Lame. These classes are so easy."

"It's freaking me out." I admitted.

"Same. Do we have any food?"

"I don't think so. We should sneak some in next time we get to town."

"Definitely. Do you think Liz packed any?"

"Doubt it. You know how she forgets to eat."

"Well there's no way Macey has any."

"No way I have any what?" Macey asked as she entered the common room.

"Food." I replied for Bex.

"Oh yeah, I've got nothing. Maybe Mick or one of the others does." She suggested.

"Maybe. We'll ask later." I told her.

"I brought Nick with me" She announced when neither of us looked up, our faces shoved in pillows.

"Hi Nick." I greeted.

"Hi Cammie." He replied. "Well don't you two look comfortable."

"It's actually quite uncomfortable." Bex informed him.

"Why don't you move?" He asked.

"Too lazy." I told him. I could practically hear him roll his eyes.

"Here, go like this." Macey said. Seconds later I heard a thump and a groaning Bex.

"Brace yourself!" Bex warned as Macey shoved me off the couch and onto the floor.

"Macey!" I protested.

"You said yourself it wasn't comfortable." She pointed out. I grabbed a pillow off the couch.

"That's beside the point." I said as I curled up with it.

"Hey, is Bex in here?" Grant's voice came from the doorway.

"Yeah she's over here." Nick answered before the rest of us could say anything.

"Hey Bex come here a sec." Grant called from the doorway. Bex groaned quietly but went to greet him.

"What's up Grant?" She asked as she drew nearer to him.

Grant didn't reply. The next thing I heard was a gasp from Macey. My head shot off the pillow and I jumped to my feet, ready to go kill Grant if he was doing anything to Bex. Well, Grant was certainly doing something to Bex but I don't think she would appreciate me pummeling him for it. Grant and Bex's lips were locked as the stood in the middle of the doorway. Macey and I stood there staring, Nick in a similar position sitting on the end of the couch. Finally we regained our senses and Nick whistled while Macey and I cheered. They broke apart, blushing.

Grant cleared his throat.

"So um...Bex. You wanna go out sometime?" He asked nervously.

"I would love to. But after a kiss like that you're going to have to come up with something a little better." Bex replied cheekily, her british accent leaking through.

"Okay...be my girlfriend?" He asked even more nervous than before.

"Love to." Bex said with a grin and he kissed her again. He pulled away and began to awkwardly make his way down the hall, he glanced into the room once more and stopped cold.

"Oh hey, Cam. I forgot. I kinda...need help with the history homework. Come help me with it?" He asked, more nervous than when he asked Bex to be his girlfriend. Odd.

"Sure. You wanna work on it here or…?" I trailed off, hoping he would say here so my friends could help me decode his behavior.

"You mind working on it in my room? I don't think anyone's there." He replied swiftly with a glance towards Bex. Something was up.

"Uh sure, no problem. Let's go." I said with a glance towards Macey before I picked up my bag and followed Grant to his room.

Before I left the common room, I tapped the comms unit I had never turned back in after cove ops. It was still connected to Bex and Macey's. Bex would get the message and hopefully hook it up to her computer to record the conversations.

The walk to the guys room was silent and rather awkward. I tried a couple times to start a conversation but nothing I tried went anywhere so while we walked I fiddled with the communication device in my ear, making sure it was on and working. Bex ran a couple tests to make sure I could hear them and to make sure they could hear me. I couldn't exactly reply verbally to their tests so I replied through coughs and sniffs, each time Grant jumped and turned back to look at me. He was acting so weird.

Finally we reached their room, he pulled open the door and practically shoved me inside. Their room was simple. There were four loft beds with desks underneath but only two of the desks were set up, the other two were just simple beds at a normal level. Looks like only half the occupants actually did their homework.

Sitting at one of the desks under the bed on the left was Jonas, who looked like he was expecting us.

"Look Cam, I'm no good with words so I'm just gonna let Jonas explain. Take it away Jonas." Grant said running his hands through his hair, pacing slightly.

"We're getting Grant loud and clear but you might need to step closer to Jonas." Bex instructed through the coms so I took a seat in the secondary chair under Jonas' bed.

"Okay Jonas, what's going on." I asked as I sat only a few feet from him. That's as close as I could get.

"Well, you need a little background for this to make sense." He began, turning in his chair to face me.

"Good Cam, we've got him loud and clear. Stay where you are." Bex informed me.

"First you need to know that I am a conspiracy theorist. A big one. I know it's weird and quirky and strange and about a million other things but I can't help it, okay? The government is shady. Anyway I spend a good chunk of my free time digging in the CIA, FBI, DNI, NSA, all those databases trying to see what I can find."

"Speed it along Jonas." Grant prompted.

"Right, sorry. I was digging about a week ago, it was actually the database that isn't supposed to exist on all of us. I don't just mean Gallagher and Blackthorne students, I mean the database that holds information on each and every spy or intelligence agent that has ever existed. It goes back decades and is buried so deep that only a handful of people alive today know it exists, I don't even think the president know about it-" Grant interrupted again.

"Jonas!" Grant exclaimed, still pacing.

"Sorry! Okay, I stumbled upon this database and of course I can't have my information in something like this where anyone can find it so I searched myself and erased all the information that included me, but that meant I had to erase my roommates data too because I was connected to it. I was on Grant's profile and I saw something that I had to show him. It had secrets about Grant that not even Grant knew existed." He explained.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked quickly.

"Because Cam, you're one of the secrets." Jonas told me. My heart rate quadrupled.

"What do you mean?" I asked quietly.

"Cammie, you and Grant are connected in a way-"

"Oh just spit it out Jonas." Grant commanded.

"You and Grant are twins." Jonas finally exclaimed. Grant finally stopped pacing. Gasps came through the coms. I froze.

I could see it. We had similar bone structure, he had dad's eyes and mom's nose.

"How…?" I managed to get out, forcing the word out of my mouth. I began to push myself out of the chair.

"We don't know. I've been trying to figure it out. We were trying to contact Liz so we could tell you but then you guys came on exchange so we knew we had to tell you, but-" I cut him off this time.

"Shut up Jonas."I whispered as I walked up to Grant.

He looked at me nervously. I could tell he believed it. I had no reason to doubt him...but why didn't I have any memories of us as siblings? Why didn't my mom ever tell me? How did I know this was some elaborate ruse? No, the look in Grant's eye...he had irrefutable proof. It was real.

I reached Grant and engulfed him in a hug. I squeezed him tighter than I had ever embraced another human being and he squeezed me just as hard. We stayed like that for so long. Our arms around each other and...it felt right. Eventually though, Grant pulled away and I turned to face Jonas.

"How do you know for sure?" I asked.

"Your DNA is on file. I compared it to Grant's, it's a match. There's no doubt you two are siblings and given the fact that you're the same age, it became obvious you were twins." Jonas explained.

"Who else knows?" I questioned.

"Just us three." Jonas replied.

"And the girls." I added, pulling my hair back and revealing the com unit.

"What do you have that for?" Grant asked as he examined it.

"You were acting so weird, it was a precaution." I explained.

Jonas sighed. "Grant, I told you to act nonchalant."

"I thought I was!" He exclaimed. "Who will the girls tell?"

"No one. Liz maybe if she wasn't there to hear the announcement." I answered. "Bex and Macey are probably on their way here to question you in person. Liz too if she's there."

As if on cue, Macey, Bex, Liz, and Nick burst through the door.

"What do you bloody well mean Grant and Cam are twins?" Bex yelled as she entered the room. Grant and Jonas shushed her as Grant hurried to shut the door.

"We don't exactly want the whole world knowing that we know." Grant whispered as he locked the door behind us.

"Why not?" Nick asked.

"With how deep the information was buried, it was obviously kept secret for a reason. Until we know what that reason is, the less people that know the better." Jonas explained.

"So the only people that know are in this room?" Macey clarified.

"Unless there was someone else in earshot when you were listening to our conversation, yes." Jonas told her.

"There was no one else. We brought the laptop too. We were listening to it in our corridor and none of the other girls were in the common room." Liz reassured everyone.

"Okay so...what now?" Bex asked.

"I for one, have about a million questions." I commented.

"So do I." Grant agreed.

"I do too." Liz put in. "Most of mine could probably be answered by Jonas."

"Well how about we leave you two to nerd out while we go find Zach and-" Grant cut me off.

"NO!" He yelled suddenly.

I looked at him in confusion. I thought they were best friends. Bex voiced my thoughts.

"Why don't you want him to know? I thought you two were best friends…"

"I know. We are. I just...don't want him to know yet." He looked at each of us deeply in the eye. "Promise me you won't tell him."

"Oh come on Grant." Nick tried.

"I'm serious guys." Grant said firmly.

Each of our friends exchanged looks before promising not to tell Zach. Grant turned to me, a question in his eyes.

"Cam, I know he's your boyfriend but...please." He said quietly.

"Alright." I replied softly. "I won't tell. I swear."

He sighed in relief. "Thank you. All of you. Now, I wasn't kidding about needing help on the history homework." He said as he gave me a look. I laughed.

"We'll run to the library and get it done." I offered.

"Oh no you don't, you two can't be seen together too much. People will get suspicious. Liz and I will go to the library, you two stay here." Jonas said jumping to his feet.

"And when people overhear you talking about the two of them?" Bex questioned.

"Oh don't worry, most of my questions don't involve them specifically. We'll be extra careful not to mention specifics." Liz reassured her.

"Well Macey and I have plenty of work to do, so we're gonna take off." Nick said pulling Macey towards the door.

"I'm gonna go too, I want to get my homework done." Bex said trailing after them. "Sparring later, Cam?"

"Yeah sounds good." I replied as all our friends exited, leaving Grant and I alone.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"So...history homework." I said after letting the silence get nice and awkward.

"Oh, right. Can we...not do it right now?" Grant pleaded, with adorable baby seal eyes.

"Yeah...I guess. What do you want to do?" I replied.

"Can we talk? I have some questions…" He trailed off, running a hand through his hair.

"Sure." I responded, sitting in the chair under Jonas' bed.

"Okay...first question." He said taking a seat across from me in the chair Jonas was in earlier.

"Shoot. Wait, let me turn the bug off." I said stopping him with his mouth wide open. I flicked the switch on the communication device before pulling it out of my ear and setting it on my lap. "Okay, now go."

"Okay sweet. First question, mom." He said before looking at me.

"I missed the question." I said blankly.

"What's she like?" He rephrased before staring at me intently.

"Well...she's beautiful. She's really nice and generally a lot of fun. She's great at what she does, an absolutely horrible cook, like don't ever let her cook for you. She gets busy sometimes but she's pretty good at making it seem like she never stops thinking about you. You can tell she really cares." I described thoughtfully. "Basically, she's the best mom over."

Grant smiled a little. "Wish I knew her myself."

"I wish I knew why she didn't tell me about you." I commented.

"I wish I knew when we were separated." Grant added.

"I wish I knew what happened." I added.

"Well this a bunch of pointless wishing, we'll get back to it later I have more questions." Grant said stopping the pattern.

"Okay go ahead." I said waving him on.

"What's dad like? Where is he?" Grant asked confused. I felt my chest constrict.

"Dad's...great. He's hilarious, and an incredible spy. He loves chocolate almost as much as I do, and I can't count the times we've snuck it behind mom's back. Whenever he wasn't on a mission he would take me to fun things and he really really loves mom. They're so much fun to watch, their love is like something out of a movie. I used to sneak downstairs and watch them dance around the kitchen when I was in bed." Grant grinned. I had to tell him. "And...he went MIA 5 years ago. Presumed dead."

His grin fell. "You serious? He's been MIA for five years? What happened?"

I didn't want to tell him. He had a right to know. I didn't know if I could. I had to.

"He was on a mission. He had been waiting for it for a long time. He made his first three call ins but then he just kind of...disappeared. Fell off the map. All we know is he was in Europe, near Italy when he disappeared. Mom's tried hundreds of times to get more information, she even took off to look for him. Nothing." I explained slowly, keeping it just to the facts. How was I supposed to tell him everything else? I took a deep breath and told him what no one else knew. "Mom was crushed. She shut down, practically went crazy trying to figure out what happened. Her sister, our Aunt Abby, came and helped her. Made her see sense. Got her the job at Gallagher. It was rough there for a while."

"What about you?" He asked, concerned. I lowered my head.

"Didn't do much better. I went crazy training with anyone who would teach me. Channeled everything I had into it. I thought if I got good enough, fast enough mom would let me look for dad with her. I got better once I got to Gallagher. Bex really helped me." I said, looking up at him through my lashes.

"Cam…" He said rolling forward in his chair and wrapping me in a hug. "I wish I was there. You shouldn't have had to go through that alone."

"I wasn't alone. Not really. I had Bex." I reminded him gently. "I'm glad you're dating Bex now...she's great."

"Yeah." He grinned at the thought of her. "I really like her."

"Good. I have to warn you though, if you hurt her I'll have to pummel you." I said in all seriousness.

"If I hurt her, I'll let you." He said with a stiff set to his jaw.

"Why don't you want to tell Zach about us?" I asked, taking the silence as and opening.

"I just...he's my best friend." He said shrugging.

"That didn't make much sense…" I said, waiting for him to continue.

"Because he's my best friend, I know him pretty well. I just...I don't want to tell him until it's safe for everyone else to know." He said by way of explanation. He didn't say any more and I didn't press. If I wanted Grant to trust me I had to trust him too.

"Okay. Tell me more about you." I said as I stretched my feet up across the space between us and onto his lap.

"Umm...what do you want to know?" He asked as he held my feet securely in his lap.

"Anything you want to tell me and everything you don't." I said with a smile. He chuckled.

"Okay...well I'm no good with the straight knowledge part of this job I can tell you that right off the bat. I'm much better with the physical stuff. I'm pretty good at reading people. I'm a pretty chill dude, not huge on rules and...I suck at staying out of trouble." He said after a moment's thought. "What about you?"

"Well...I'm pretty smart, pretty good at the physical stuff too. I suck at reading people and I am not so great at rolling with the punches. Metaphorically, literally I'm great at it."

"Metaphors mean nothing to me. I don't get them." He put in, blank face.

"Okay um... I get surprised easily and I'm not very good at going along with it, it shocks me like crazy and I'm unable to hide my real emotions when it happens." I rephrased.

"Pfft, it's easy. Hang with me enough and you'll learn, it's basically all I do." He said waving a hand.

"Okay." I grinned at him. "Oh, and I should warn you I basically invented trouble."

"You wanna bet? I probably get into more trouble in a month than you have your entire life." He said competitively.

"Fine, let's compare track records." I said sitting up a little straighter. "I once knocked out a teacher."

"I once knocked out the headmaster." He countered.

"I set the chem lab on fire."

"I set my math class on fire."

"I set the pond on fire."

"I broke through a wall."

"I broke through a staircase."

"I collapsed a ceiling."

"I collapsed a tunnel. And got trapped." He raised an eyebrow at that one.

"I released a chicken in the school."

"I set a pig loose in my school."

"I jumped onto a group of seniors during their graduation."

"I rode a horse through a barn."

"I swung through a stain glass window like tarzan."

"I snuck out of my school for a semester to date a civilian."

"I convinced my friends I was doing the same."

"I rode a wheelchair down the railing like I was on a skateboard at the ramps."

"I rode a skateboard down the halls."

"I was put on room arrest for making a water slide down one of the halls."

"I was suspended for doing the same but with mud."

I couldn't help it, I starting laughing. Grant didn't hesitate to join in. Of course, that was right when Zach decided to enter the room.

"Hey guys...what's going on?" Zach asked as he watched Grant and I laugh. His eyes flew to my feet on Grants lap.

"H-hey Zach. 'Sup." Grant got out between laughs, I couldn't stop long enough to breathe.

"Just...putting my bag away. What are you guys up to?" He asked again.

"Cammie's helping me with history homework." Grant explained as I regained my breath.

"I don't see any homework." Zach pointed out.

"Well we haven't exactly started yet." I told him.

"I see. Well, I guess I'll catch you guys later. I wouldn't want to interrupt your studying." He gave us another look and left the room.

"Well that was weird." I said when he was gone.

"He's probably thinking the same thing." Grant commented.

"True. Did you really knock the headmaster unconscious?" I asked.

Grant laughed before nodding. For the next hour and a half we told each other our stories. I laughed at all of Grants and he laughed at all of mine. I told him all about Josh and he promised to punch him the next time they met face to face. I told him it wasn't necessary but he said he had to.

"It's a big brother thing." He argued.

"How do we know you're older?" I countered.

"We just do. It's how life works." He told me.

"I think I'm older." I told him.

"I think you're wrong." He informed me.

"I think we still need to do history homework." I reminded him.

He groaned.

"Let's not and say we did." He tried.

"Come on Grant, it's not even that hard. Come on, let's just get it over with." I climbed to my feet and removed my homework from my backpack. When Grant didn't move, I got his out for him.

"Caaaaaaammmmiiieeeee." He groaned before flopping to the ground. "I can't do it."

"Yes you can, I'll help you." I tried to pull him off the ground.

"I don't want too." He whined.

"No one wants to, but it has to be done." I continued to pull on his arm.

"Do it for me?" He asked.

"No, but I'll help you do it. It's not even 20 questions, it's so easy. Let's just do it now and be done with it." He was really heavy.

"Ugh. Fine. Hand me my paper." I place his paper in his hand and then gave him a pencil.

"Okay, number one." I sat back in the chair and settled in to complete the worksheet.

It took us much longer than it should've to finish the history homework. Okay, it took _Grant_ a lot longer than it should've to finish _his_ homework. Mine was done in less than ten minutes, I then spent the remainder of the hour convincing Grant to do his own. It was a lot harder than it sounds.

First of all, he refused to get off the ground. He laid on the ground the entire time but it was hard to encourage him to do it when he was on the ground so I eventually decided to just sit on his back and lean over his shoulder.

Secondly, he did not stop groaning. Every single problem, he would groan. Everytime he got an answer wrong he would groan. Everytime he got an answer right he would groan. Groaning all the time.

When Bex finally came to get me to go spar, I was ready to kill him.

"Yes Grant, I am sure that's the right answer." I reassured him.

"Okay. I'm trusting you with this Cam, if I fail history because you thought this answer was right-"

"Well don't you two look adorable." Bex announced as she opened the door.

I was laying on Grant's back, looking over his shoulder at the worksheet while he braced us both up on his forearms.

"I'm not sure how I feel about that statement." I told Grant.

"Neither am I. Hi Bex." He called to her.

"Hi Grant. It looks like you two have had a lot of fun bonding." Bex commented as she sat in front of Grant.

"Is that a good thing?" Grant asked me.

"Yes. I think so at least." I replied.

"Aww you two are precious. I'm so glad you two are siblings, Cam needs a brother." Bex commented as she kissed Grant.

"Ugh." I pushed myself off of Grants back to get away from their locked lips. "Why do I need a brother when I have a sister?" I asked Bex when she pulled away for air.

"Good point. I am pretty great." She flipped her hair off her shoulder. "Anyway, I came to get you to see if you are ready to go spar. We've got a couple hours still until dinner."

"Yeah for sure. Let's go, later Grant." I called as I picked up my bag and exited the room, towing Bex with me.

"Bye Cam, bye Bex." He called after us.

"Whew what a day." I said as soon as Bex and I were safely out of earshot.

"I bet. I meant what I said though about you and Grant. You guys are cute siblings, not like those irritating ones." Bex said out of the blue.

"Yeah. Grant's great. Anyway, can we go spar? I've got and excess amount of energy that must be spent." I said as I ran toward our room.

Bex and I swiftly changed and informed the others of where we were going before sprinting to the gym. It was blessedly empty. Bex and I quickly stretched and warmed up before falling into a normal sparring routine. We practiced our legal moves, our illegal ones, and even our more creative ones for about an hour before we were interrupted.

"I hoped I might find you two here." Thomas called from the doorway. "I was planning on begging you to help me with my gymnastics. You aren't going to make me beg are you?"

"We might." Bex teased with a smile.

"Aww. But really, how about it? I made a bet and it would really help me out." Thomas pleaded.

"Well I suppose we could give you a hand." Bex drawled.

Thomas grinned and we got to work. We started with the basics of gymnastics, which he actually understood, so we moved on to some of the harder stuff. Bex spotted while I coached as we worked to get a decent handspring out of him. We worked right up until dinner before realizing what time it was and sprinting to the grand hall so we weren't late.

We entered sweaty and out of breath about thirty seconds before food was served. Bex and I waved goodbye to Thomas before crossing the hall to the girls table.

"Where have you guys been?" Macey whisper asked when we sat down.

"Why does this happen every time? You guys know where we were, we told you. We were down in the gym. Why?" Bex asked exasperated.

"You guys missed it. It was the most intense thing ever." Mick told us, wide eyed.

"Zach and the seniors pulled a prank." Eva informed us.

"But it was cruel. It wasn't even remotely funny." Kim put in.

"Hold a second, someone tell us what happened." I said quietly, trying not to call excessive attention to our table.

"Okay so apparently this is a tradition, every year the seniors do something horrible to the first years. They told the little ones that they could join this super secret club or whatever but they had to pass initiation. They told them that the only thing they had to do was run around the outside of campus in their underwear. So they take off, doing a lap but then they start chucking eggs at them from the room and managed to dump this nasty smelling goop all over them. The poor kids were almost in tears all the while jerks were just sitting there laughing. They didn't even get in trouble for it." Courtney explained.

"That's not even a prank. That's just plain bullying. Poor kids." Anna added.

"I can't believe it…" I said trying very hard not to march over to Zach and demand an explanation.

"I can...guys have a twisted sense of right and wrong." Bex commented. "Guys are cruel, to them this makes sense. The new kids will be over it soon. It looks like they already are. Either that or they're planning revenge."

"Still...it's horrible." Eva said feebly.

"Well, until it directly affects us it's not our business." Bex continued. "The guys stayed out of our business at Gallagher and the least we can do is give them the same courtesy."

We sat in silence for a while, letting what Bex said sink in. Eventually however, our stomachs began growling and we decided that it was time to go get food. We left the table and joined the line of boys that were attacking the buffets of food. Luckily there was tons of food spread across the room so we didn't have to wait long to get our food.

After covering our plates in food we made our way back to our table and scarfed it all down, it'd been a seriously long time since lunch. We made small talk about the guys at Blackthorne and the teachers before heading back to our room to get ready for bed. Macey ran off first, she went somewhere with Nick. Bex left soon after with Grant. Anna, Eva, Courtney, and Liz made off a few minutes after. Mick trailed after them and managed to take Thomas with her. Kim, Tina, and I all left together a few minutes before they closed up the grand hall. We were some of the last people there. We kind of got distracted playing 'what could possibly happen' and coming up with some crazy rumors.

"I seriously have to spread that one about Michael, it's genius." Tina got out between giggles.

"Like oh my gosh, totally!" A male voice said behind us, speaking in a higher tone mimicking Tina.

"I'm sorry, can we help you?" I asked harshly.

"Good, you should be sorry." He replied rudely before stalking off, his friends laughing behind him.

"Who was that jerk?" I asked Tina once they were gone.

"I have no idea. I'll see what I can figure out." She replied as we continued towards our room.

After we made our way up the stairs, they showed up again.

"OOOooooOOOOoooo. Are you scared girls?" They asked as the circled around us making ghost noises.

"Yes, your faces are terrifying." Kim replied sarcastically.

Their circle closed in around us, they started flicking our hair and pulling at our skirts.

"Too close!" I yelled as I lashed out and struck one of them in the jaw. The other girls swiftly followed my example.

Fists and feet were flying as it became a full blown fight. It didn't take long for a teacher to separate us.

"Girls!" It was Dr. Steve. "That is quite enough. You three, to my office. You boys, back to your rooms."

"Seriously?" We mumbled under our breath as they got off scot free. We followed Dr. Steve back to his office.

He didn't hesitate to dig at us as soon as we reached his office.

"Girls, need I remind you that you are guests at Blackthorne? Your behavior tonight was wildly inappropriate."

"But-" Tina tried, but Dr. Steve cut her off.

"No buts! You girls need to recognize that this is their home, you cannot come in here and attack them."

"Dr. Steve-" I tried to explain the situation but I got no farther than Tina.

"I am serious Miss Morgan. I won't call your mother this time but if it happens again I'm afraid I will be required to. As it stands you three need to attend a week of detention starting tomorrow afternoon." He glared at us all over his glasses. "Am I understood?"

I desperately wanted to scream that he wasn't understood, he was being entirely unfair but I didn't want to get more detention so I just nodded along with the others before we were ushered back to our rooms.

"That was completely ridiculous!" Kim exploded once we were out of earshot.

"I agree!" Tina said vehemently.

"I almost wish he _had_ called my mom, she would've been on our side." I asserted.

"I can't believe this, _they_ harass _us_ and _we_ get in trouble?!" Kim continued her rant. "I mean, sure we may have roughed them up a little bit but they fought back! And then they just run off without even a stern word. I mean seriously, what was that even about?"

I kind of zoned out of the rest of Kim's lament. I was busy keeping an eye out for those jerks. I got the jist of it though, the Blackthorne boys were jerks and Dr. Steve could go to a very unpleasant place. She was still ranting when we reached the common room, luckily there was no sight of the jerks from earlier.

"Hey, what's going on?" Macey called over Kim's rant when we entered.

"Tina, Cammie, and I have a week's detention." Kim said, popping a hip and crossing her arms, commanding the attention of the room.

"What? Why?" Mick asked, looking up from her homework. "What did you guys do?"

"NOTHING!" Kim yelled in exasperation.

"That's the problem." Tina grumbled.

"These idiots were harassing us in the halls, making fun of us over something dumb then they started picking at our hair and our skirts like real jerks so of course we lashed out at them physically. They fought back and we got into it then Dr. Steve came and split us up then assigned us detention while the guys got away without even a finger raised in their direction." I explained as I plopped onto the couch and rubbed my ankle.

"That's so stupid!" Liz exclaimed.

"Yeah, we know." Tina said as she sat next to me. "I think I bruised my foot kicking those guys."

"I know the feeling. I think I sprained my finger." I agreed as I stretched my hand.

"My shoulder is killing me." Kim informed us as she rubbed it.

"Tina, let me see your foot." Eva said as she knelt in front of her friend.

"Lemme see your finger Cam." Liz said as she gently grabbed my hand.

"Kimmy, let me rub your shoulder." Courtney said as she pushed her onto the couch.

"Geez Cam, you really did a number on your finger." Liz mumbled as she examined it. "You should probably have a nurse look at it."

"Nah I'm fine." I argued. "It'd be nice if you would wrap it for me though."

"I'm not a medical professional Cam." Liz reminded me.

"Yeah but you're the smartest person I know." I flattered her. "I trust you."

She thought about it for a minute as she twisted my hand around to examine my finger more.

"Nothing I say is going to make you change your mind is it?" She asked.

"Nope." I replied.

"And you promise if it starts to really hurt you'll get it looked at?"

"Yep." I agreed.

"Then I'll wrap it for you. Let me go grab the medical tape." Liz ran off to our room to rummage through our first aid kit.

"Hey, has anyone seen Zach?" I asked while I waited.

"Not since dinner." Nick replied. "I wouldn't worry about it though, he usually runs off to do something secretive. He'll be fine."

"Okay." I said as I leaned down and untied my shoe.

"Do you think you hurt your ankle more?" Anna asked, coming to sit in front of me.

"Promise not to tell Liz?" I whispered. She nodded. "Probably."

"Cammie! You need to get it looked at!" Anna protested. "It could get a ton worse."

"I know! But as soon as I go down to the infirmary it means those jerks won the fight. I can't." I argued.

"It's not good for you Cam, what if it sprains and you're off it for a week?" She pointed out.

"Well then that sucks. I'll be okay." I brushed off her concern. "If it gets worse I'll go to the nurse." I said non committedly.

"I'll make sure you do." She told me before going to check on Tina.

Liz returned shortly after and wrapped my finger carefully before leading me to go sit by where she, Jonas, Macey, Nick, and Bex had set up a little circle.

"Wasn't Grant with you?" I asked Bex as I sat next to her.

"Yeah, he ran to grab something from his room." She informed me as she picked up my hand and examined the wrapping.

"Cammie, do you know the guys you fought?" Nick asked.

"No. They seemed to be seniors. One of them was blonde, the other two were brunettes. The brunettes had brown eyes, the blonde had blue. Average height and build, acted like they were king of the world." I described them quickly. "One brunette had a horrible left hook, and the blonde could barely block kicks."

"Sounds like Chase, Paul, and Micah. I'm not sure though. Will you point them out to me tomorrow?" Nick asked with and eyebrow raised.

"Sure I don't know why-" Grant's appearance cut me off.

"Cammie, what the actual heck happened to you?" He exclaimed as he slid like a baseball player next to Bex and I.

I relayed the events of the evening once more as he pulled my hand from Bex and gently examined it.

"And now Tina, Kim, and I have detention for the next week starting tomorrow afternoon." I finished as he finally put my hand down.

"And you have no idea who did this?" Grant asked angrily.

"Nope." I replied as I twirled around and rested my head in Bex's lap.

"I think it was Chase, Paul, and Micah but I need confirmation." Nick informed him.

"I'll kill them." Grant growled.

"Down boy, Cammie can take care of herself." Bex said placing a hand on his arm, instantly calming him.

"They still deserve to pay." He grumbled as he stretched out.

"They will. Karma's an even bigger jerk than they are." I said as I rotated my ankle.

"Hey Cam, will you and Grant do Liz and I a favor?" Jonas asked.

"Depends on what it is." I replied.

"We want to study you two. Nothing too intense, just want to run some tests to see what happens when twins are reunited after so long." He explained.

"WHEN WHAT?!" Tina yelled as she overheard our conversation.

"Great going Jonas." Grant mumbled. Jonas shoved his head in his hands.

"I am Anderson, lord of the idiots." He said under his breath.

"Cammie, explain." Tina said as she ran over and jumped into the middle of our circle so she could stare into my eyes.

I sighed and looked at my friends. They offered no help so I turned and made eye contact with Grant. He shrugged.

"It's too late to go back now." He said simply.

"Tina, I need you to go lock the door." I told her as I climbed to my feet. "Everyone onto the couches, I'll explain."

I was surprised to see everyone follow my instructions. Tina locked the door and everyone else ran to get on the couches, and to my extreme surprise they were quiet. I glanced at my friends. Just my luck that every single one of the girls happened to be in the room when Jonas made his slip. Luckily none of them had their boys with them.

"Grant and I are twins. We were separated a while ago and recently figured out that we were twins. Everyone that knows is in this room and we'd prefer to keep it that way until we can figure out more. Zach doesn't know yet and he's not going to know. I need you all to swear on Gilly's sword that you won't say a word." I said quickly before they could burst into questions.

"No, Gilly's sword isn't enough. This is serious." Macey interrupted. "Girls, up. Grab hands."

They did as she instructed, each girl still too shocked to object.

"Repeat after me. As a Gallagher Girl I swear on the sisterhood not to repeat what's been said tonight to preserve the safety of my fellow sister and her family." Macey stated and each girl repeated it. Thank heavens.

"Cammie, is this for real?" Anna asked me.

"Yeah...it is." I smiled and looked back at Grant. "We even sorta look alike, don't you think?"

Grant ran forward and threw an arm around my shoulder, putting his face right next to mine. We made identical cheesy grins at Anna and she laughed.

"You really do." She agreed.

"So your best friend is dating your brother…" Mick commented, eyebrow raised. "Wow."

"Ugh, I know." I said with a look at Grant. "It makes somethings awkward." I referenced what happened earlier in the guys room.

"Pfft, I missed who knows how many years of torturing you. I have to make it up somehow." He teased, ruffling my hair.

"Hey Cammie?" Courtney asked, calling for my attention.

"Yeah Court?" I replied.

"Why haven't you told Zach?" She asked.

"We just don't want him to know yet. Long story." I replied, making sure to say 'we' instead of Grant. We were in this together.

"Girls, take a seat." Solomon announced as he burst through the doors, slipping his key back into his pocket. "Boys, get out of here."

The guys gave us all a worried look before slipping out the door. The girls and I all hurried to take seats on the couch, wary of a very angry Solomon.

"Would one of you like to explain what happened tonight?" He asked after pacing for a moment.

"I will." Tina sheepishly raised her hand. She recounted the events of the evening factually and without bias. Solomon's anger diminished as he realized the truth of her story.

"This is honestly what happened?" He asked Kim and I. We nodded. "Girls, I must warn you to be extra wary. They will choose their boys over you at any time, especially Dr. Steve. I have to ask you to make and extra effort to stay out of trouble. I realize that it will be difficult for you but if this happens again I need you to stand down or try to find me."

"But Mr. Solomon-" Kim tried to argue.

"I'm afraid it's for the best Miss Lee. You will have to put your pride down. It'll be good practice for later in life I assure you. Do we have an understanding girls?" He asked each of us and we voiced our affirmatives. "Thank you girls. I will do my best to prevent this from happening again."

He then exited the room without ceremony.

"Okay, this has officially been the weirdest school day I've ever had." Tina announced. "Nevermind the fact that it happened on a Sunday."

"Eh...I've had weirder." I commented.

"Well of course _you_ have, but I'm wiped. Can we all agree to go to bed?" Tina argued.

"Tina, it's like 9:05." Macey pointed out.

"I realize. I also realize that I'm emotionally exhausted. Do you guys really do this everyday?" Tina asked Macey, Liz, Bex, and I. We shrugged. "I don't know how you do it. I'm gonna go pass out."

Courtney, Kim, and Eva followed her to their corridor. Mick and Anna waved as they followed their example and crossed to their corridor as well, leaving the four of us alone in the common room. We made eye contact with each other before shrugging and making our way to our own corridor for what would probably be a long talk.

"So, talk first or change first?" Bex asked.

"Change first, we're not gonna want to do it later." Macey pointed out. We all nodded before swiftly changing into our matching pajamas.

"Okay, who's first?" Liz asked as we sat in a circle on Bex's bed.

"I want Liz to go first. How did it go with Jonas?" I asked.

She grinned and blushed slightly.

"It was incredible. We had so much to talk about, it was so much fun. Neither of us really wanted to leave when we eventually acknowledged that we couldn't stay in the library all night. We did however set another date for tomorrow." She informed us, a sparkle in her eye.

"Lizzie, that's awesome!" I said excitedly.

"Seriously Liz, that's incredible. I'm so glad you had so much fun." Bex added.

"You two are perfect for each other, I wonder how long it's going to take him to make it official." Macey said with a smile.

"You guys are seriously the perfect couple." Bex agreed.

"He's so cute and he actually knows what I'm talking about when I talk about it, it's great. We have the most interesting discussions, I feel like I can talk to him about anything. I mean, today we mostly talked about scholarly stuff but we both brought up our families and we shared some dumb stories and we both bumbled around and dropped stuff. He's just…"

"Perfect?" We suggested in unison. Her face reddened and we laughed.

"Liz, you're totally head over heels for this guy. If he screws this up I'm gonna kill him." Bex commented.

"You two are so cute, you're like the couple every couple aspires to be." I agreed.

"I love that we can talk. We all know I'm not the best conversationalist when it comes to strangers but...it's so easy with Jonas. I really _really_ like him." Liz told us.

"Lizzie, I've never seen you like this. It's so cute. I know Jonas feels the same way, you can see it in his eyes." Macey told her.

"Ugh...his eyes. I know they seem like they're just brown, but they have this little bit of green in them and when he looks over the edge of his glasses at me and he has this little smile on his face…" She sighed and her eyes kind of glossed over. "I have to exercise every ounce of my minimal training not to swoon. Ugh! I can't believe I'm this crazy over a guy...does he even know what he does to me without even trying?"

"Liz, if you knew the effect you had on him...he can't stop staring at you. It's like he can finally see clearly for the first time. He's crazy about you already and it's only been a day." Macey pointed out.

"Alright, alright, enough about me. You're going to turn my face permanently red. Bex next." Liz said as her blush deepened.

"What about Bex?" Bex asked, trying to get the attention off her.

"Oh come on Bex, you know exactly what. You and Grant! You guys looked like you were having so much fun earlier." Macey commented.

"Yeah...we were." Bex said as a grin took over her face. "I don't know...he's just so much fun. He's so charming and he's a real gentleman, and believe me I grew up in England, I know gentlemen. He's so funny and he makes me laugh and I can't help but smile when I'm around him. He does this thing where he manages to capture all of my attention, and makes me want to do nothing but listen and pay attention to him, just by saying my name. I love when he says my name."

"Why Bex Baxter, I do believe you're a romantic." I teased.

"Ugh! I'm sorry, I can't help it. I'm just giddy."

"Giddy like a schoolgirl?" Macey teased lightly. "We can tell."

"I've never been one to be giddy over guys...it's been a day and I'm giddy. Is that a good thing?" She questioned seriously.

"Absolutely, you two are seriously adorable to watch. He actually manages to tease you without you beating him to a pulp. It's a great sign." Macey analyzed.

"He's such a flirt, but he does it so well. I just want him to flirt with me all the time because it makes me feel so special." Bex explained.

"You deserve to feel special Bex, you _are_ special." Liz told her matter-of-factly.

"I can't imagine ever finding another guy like him...I don't think I want to." She said softly.

"Good. You two are kind of great together." I commented.

"I'm glad you think so." Bex said with a grin and a wink. "Your opinion is kind of important. Enough about me and Grant though, it's Macey's turn."

"My turn? Why? I haven't really done anything yet." Macey asked wide eyed.

"You know exactly what we want to know Mace, what do you think of Nick?" I asked.

"Well...he's certainly unlike any guy I've met before." She said carefully.

"How so?" Bex asked.

"Not only is he big in the world of politics and business like I am, but he's in the spy world too. He's in both sides like me. It's kind of…" She trailed off.

"Perfect?" We supplied and she smiled.

"Well I wouldn't use that word…" She objected.

"I would, it's basically fate." Bex informed her. "You two would make a great couple."

"They already make a great couple. All they need to do is make it official." I said.

Macey looked unsure.

"Think about it Mace, this is the one guy in the whole of existence that gets it. All of it. He gets every side of the situation and knows all your problems and can relate to them. You're never gonna find another guy like him." Liz pointed out.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Macey asked.

"Dig your claws into him and never let go." I said seriously.

"I'll...think about it. Let's move on to Cammie." Macey said shaking her head.

"Which specific part first?" I asked.

"Zach." Bex said.

"Well, there's not much to say. He kissed me this morning, we have a couple classes, I haven't seen him since." I told them.

"Let's talk about the kiss then." Liz suggested.

"What a kiss…" I sighed.

"Tell us about it." Bex ordered.

"Okay so it was rough but not too rough, it was just enough to let me know that he had thought about me, and it made me dizzy." I told them.

"What was up with his hands? They were all over the place." Macey pointed out.

"But they didn't exactly go anywhere they shouldn't have either." I reminded them.

"It was weird though...from an outside point of view it looked like he was focused more on his hands than he was his mouth." Bex informed me.

"He probably was, he had to put on a show for the other guys to stake his claim." Macey stated.

"Ugh, speaking of staking his claim…" I trailed off reminding them of P&E.

"That was going a mite too far. Does that boy seriously have no trust whatsoever?" Bex commented.

"I agree." Liz added.

"I don't understand, Thomas is literally just my guide. Not to mention Mick likes him, I would never do that to a sister." I stated running my hands through my hair.

"I think Nick is right, you just have to let it run it's course and once he sees he's being ridiculous everything will be fine." Macey advised.

"I don't know if I can just sit back and do nothing though." I said honestly.

"You're gonna have to try. If it goes on too long you can confront him but for now you just have to grin and bear it." Macey said soothingly.

"We're here for you Cam." Liz said placing a hand on my arm.

"Thanks Lizzie." I said with a smile.

"Enough about Zach, let's talk about the elephant in the room." Bex said.

"I don't see an elephant." I joked.

"Hardy har har Cam, you know what I mean. The bombshell that was dropped on you today. The twin thing." Bex clarified.

"Yeah...that was definitely a bombshell." I agreed.

"You really had no idea that you had a twin?" Macey asked.

"None. My parents never mentioned it and there was never even a clue that I wasn't an only child." I told them.

"That's so bizarre. Why wouldn't your parents tell you?" Liz asked.

"Why wouldn't they look for him?" I wondered.

"What happened to Grant?" Macey questioned.

"When are we actually going to ask someone who knows?" Bex's question made the most sense.

"Seriously Cam, are you going to talk to your mom about it?" Macey asked.

"I can't. I have no secure way to contact her. Until I can be sure that we aren't putting Grant in danger, I'm not doing anything." I told them.

"Well there is someone else we can ask…" Liz said quietly.

"My dad's MIA, Lizzie." I reminded her gently.

"No, I meant Mr. Solomon. He and your dad were best friends weren't they? He'd know something." Liz pointed out.

"That's true...we could ask Solomon." I considered it. "I don't know...I need to talk about it with Grant."

"Well I hope if you do ask him, you let us know what's up." Macey commented.

"Of course I will. I tell you guys everything." I reminded them with a smile.

The grinned back at me. Then Bex yawned and we remembered that sleep was a necessary thing. We quickly brushed our teeth and turned off the lights before climbing under the covers and calling out our goodnights. We fell asleep quickly.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Extra long chapter for the extra long wait. Sorry about that weird code thing. Shout out to Monica Mendez and Blackthorne Boy for pointing it out, would've had no idea.

Chapter 9

A small rustle came from my left. What time was it? Ugh, 2:30 am.

Another rustle.

Bex?

A tiny whimper.

Bex.

I threw my blankets off and hurried to her side before she woke up everyone else.

"Bex…" I whispered softly, knowing trying to touch her in this state would be catastrophic.

Her wild eyes shot open. She looked very small.

"Cam." She whined. She was curled in a tiny ball.

I pushed her to the side a little and wrapped my arms around her. She gratefully rested her head on my shoulder. I began to stroke her hair and murmur small comforts to her.

"It's okay Bex...shhh, it's all okay." I whispered in her ear.

She was shaking. It was a bad one. Slowly, ever so slowly, she calmed down and drifted off to sleep.

"Cam?" She asked drowsily.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Don't leave me." She begged.

"I won't. I'll be right here." I told her.

With this comfort in mind she finally closed her lids for the last time and fell into what was hopefully a dreamless sleep. I followed shortly after.

"Come on Cam, come on Bex. It's morning." Macey informed us, standing over Bex's bed where we were both still curled.

"Can't we just stay here all day?" Bex begged.

"No. We have school." Liz called.

"Come on Bex, I want food." I said as I pulled away from her and made way for the shower.

We all quickly showered and got ready for the day, toning down our makeup just a little to make sure we were on time for breakfast. We reached the grand hall in good time, all ten of us ready for the day ahead of us.

"Gallagher Girl!" Zach called as we passed him.

"Yes Zach?" Anna replied, sending the girls into giggles.

"I meant Cammie." Zach said with an eye roll and my still giggling friends made their way to our table, leaving me to talk to Zach.

"What's up?" I asked as my friends trailed away.

"Grant said you hurt your hand, let me see." He said reaching for my wrapped finger. I let him examine it for a minute.

"Hey Zach?" I asked while he examined my hand.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Was that prank yesterday really a tradition?" I questioned.

He laughed. "Oh yeah, my first year here they locked us all outside for the night. It rained on us and it completely sucked. That's when I found my first passageway thank the stars." He explained. That made me feel slightly better about the whole situation. He began unwrapping my finger.

"You do a lot of the stuff with the seniors don't you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I already had some training when I got here so I did a lot of stuff with the guys above me and they kind of adopted me I guess. They're nice guys though. Lots of fun." He finished his examination and began wrapping my finger again.

"So what's the verdict?" I asked, gesturing to my finger.

"You jammed it pretty good. Might've sprained the knuckle. Maybe you should go see-" I cut him off.

"I'm fine." I asserted. Nick caught my eye and gestured to his right. Were those guys the ones that were messing with Tina, Kim, and I?

He gave me a skeptical look. "Well if you say so Gallagher Girl, but I'd be careful with it for a while if I were you." I nodded in response to Nick and Zach.

I rolled my eyes but smiled a little. "I should get back to the girls." I told him.

"Okay." He kissed my hand and I turned to walk toward the table but he pulled me back. "I wasn't done yet."

I rolled my eyes once more but kissed him nonetheless.

"FOOOOOOOOD!" Grant bellowed as he returned to the table with a mountain of food in front of him, interrupting our kiss. "Oh, hey Cam."

"Hi Grant." I said with a smile in his direction. He grinned back and I got the feeling he broke our kiss on purpose. I broke free of Zach's grasp and met the girls at the table. I didn't fail to notice the look Zach gave Grant as I walked away.

We hurried to eat our breakfast and to make it to our first classes on time. Languages flew by, it was still incredibly easy and I needed to talk to Grant about Solomon. I eagerly took my seat next to Thomas in History and waited for Grant to appear. He burst through the door seconds before the bell, with Zach on his tail. He rushed to his seat and class began. Looks like I was writing notes again.

I quickly scribbled out a note to Grant on a piece of evapo-paper and slid it to him carefully.

I think I know how to figure out what happened.

He opened it and carefully wrote a reply before sliding it back to me.

You serious? How?

I wrote a short reply and slid it back to him.

Solomon. He and dad were like you and Zach.

He didn't hesitate to write a reply.

Let's talk to him. His office after class.

I probably didn't need to reply, but I needed to clarify something.

This class?

His reply came quickly.

Of course this class.

I sighed slightly. I hurried and stuck the note in my mouth to prevent anyone else from seeing it and counted the seconds before the class was over.

By the time the bell rang I was so anxious, I was sure it was obvious. I couldn't keep my leg from jiggling and my mind was all over the place. Grant burst out of his seat the very second the bell rang and began to pull me from the room. Way to be subtle.

We hurried down the halls, weaving around students and teachers alike before coming to a stop in front of Joe's office. We waited in silence in front of his door until the bell rang. I kept waiting for Grant to knock and I assume he was waiting for the same because neither of us moved. Finally, I decided we had stood there long enough and knocked twice on the door.

"Come in." Solomon's voice came from inside. I pushed open the door. Grant took a step closer to me. "Hello Cammie."

"Hey Mr. S. I brought a friend." I said as we shuffled into the room and I shut the door behind us.

"I hope this is important. You should be in class." He reminded us.

"Believe me Mr. Solomon, if it wasn't incredibly important I wouldn't be here at all, let alone during class." I told him as Grant and I sat on the couch.

"Well what can I do for you?" He asked, turning in his chair to face us.

"We have a question…a few questions actually but first we need to know for sure that your room is secure. We can't have anyone bursting in here." Grant said slowly.

Solomon gave us a weird look but hit a few keys on the keyboard then got up to lock the door. After he turned the deadbolt and set the chain he returned to his chair before gesturing for us to begin.

"Did you know we were twins?" Grant said without ceremony.

"Way to ease into it." I mumbled as I took in Solomon's reaction. Now, this wouldn't be obvious to someone who hasn't known Solomon very long but I had been studying him ever since he set foot in Gallagher and I could tell that he was just as shocked as we had been. Great.

"Well what else was I supposed to ask? The other questions are pointless if he doesn't know we're twins." Grant argued.

"You didn't know, did you?" I asked, ignoring Grant.

"No...I had no idea." He admitted.

"But...how? You and dad were best friends, wouldn't he have told you?" I questioned.

"I assume he would have, had I been around. I went on a mission for a year a few months after your parents got married. I left and there was no baby, I came back and Cam was a few months old. I didn't see your mother or father at all while your mother was pregnant." He informed us. "You're positive you're twins?"

"Jonas compared our DNA several times. He's running another test with fresh samples as we speak." Grant informed him.

"So you're very sure." Solomon said rubbing his head.

"Very." I agreed.

"How did you figure this out?" He asked.

"Doesn't matter, we need to know why we didn't know." I said pulling him to the task at hand.

"I can ask around and-" I cut him off.

"No. No one else can know. Until we know why we didn't know until now, we can't talk about this with anyone. I'm not going to risk Grant's safety." I asserted firmly.

"Why do you assume he's in danger?" Solomon wondered.

"Think about it, he was hidden away, no one knows why or when. It makes sense and it's not a risk I'm willing to take." I explained. Solomon nodded in agreement.

"Smart move, Miss Morgan." Solomon said and I tried not to take it as a compliment. "So what would you like to do?"

"We both know there's only one option. I need to ask my mother." I told him.

"That's not a possibility at this time. She will be here two weeks before we leave to go back to Gallagher. Until then, I'm afraid there's no way secure way to contact her." Solomon informed us and I sighed. I can't believe this.

"So you're saying we have to 11 weeks without any information? Without knowing if we're in danger?" Grant asked.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"I'm afraid you'll have to Mr. Newman. Or should I say, Mr. Morgan." Solomon said without room for argument. Grant argued anyway.

"Until we figured out what happened, I'm afraid it has to be Newman." Grant said sourly.

"What do you expect us to do? Just sit around?" I asked angrily.

"Yes."

"I can't accept that." I told Solomon.

"I'm afraid you'll have to or risk your brothers safety." He reminded me.

"It's okay Cam, we'll figure something out." Grant said soothingly, laying a hand on my arm.

"Is there honestly nothing we can do? You have no secure way of contacting mom?" I asked.

"None."

"You can't arrange a meeting or...something!" I practically exploded at him

"May I ask who else knows of this?" Solomon questioned, pointedly ignoring my outburst.

"The Gallagher Girls, Nick, and Jonas." Grant told him as I leaned back on the couch.

"So many." He said with an eyebrow raised.

"It used to be a lot less. Jonas let it spill in the common room last night and now there's quite a few more than we wanted." Grant explained.

"Ah. I see." Solomon nodded his head.

"I'm sorry for shouting Mr. Solomon." I said.

"It's quite alright Miss Morgan, I understand." He said graciously.

"What should we do Mr. Solomon?" I asked, frightened for Grant and myself and my mom.

"You two should get to class. I'll write you each a note but don't expect this to happen consistently." He cleverly avoided the deeper meaning in the question but it appears that he didn't have an answer.

We nodded and took our notes before leaving his room and making our way back to class.

"Well. That was a bust." Grant said rubbing his eyes.

I couldn't help but agree.

The next few days passed without incident. I saw Zach in the mornings and in P&E, sometimes in his room after school when I was in there with Bex and Grant. The girls and I fell into a nice rhythm for our classes and we even managed to make time to get our Gallagher homework done. Except for the essays. Jonas and Liz promised to search subtly for information on me and Grant, but they hadn't found anything yet. I spent more time with Grant than I normally would have, Bex usually with us, but we really got to know each other and we had a ton of fun. Jonas and Liz started their testing on us and they had us do a bunch of weird things but it was a blast. Chase, Paul, and Micah were still harassing Kim, Tina, and I but it wasn't anything too bad, nothing we couldn't handle. Unfortunately this peace couldn't last forever. Our next incident occurred not long after we arrived at Blackthorne.

"I'm sorry Cammie, there's just no way you can juggle four apples." Tina argued.

"I totally can, watch." I disagreed. "Let's go get that fruit."

Tina, Kim, and I were once again the last ones in the grand hall after a meal. We were talking about that day's weapons lesson (making weapons out of anything) when Kim argued that she could use a kiwi to bore someone to death and after an interesting story about a horrible birthday magician, we were led to the topic of juggling.

We reached the salad bar and I removed four apples and began to juggle them. It took me a second to get into the groove of it but as soon as I did nothing could've distracted me. Well, almost nothing. Tina and Kim were cheering me on when a knife flew in our direction, sliced through my arm, and landed in the post next to Tina's face. I gasped in pain and dropped the apples, my opposite hand automatically going to my injured arm blood was pouring out of it. I spun around in the same movement and searched for the perpetrators. My eyes fell on Chase, Paul, and a smirking Micah. They did it.

"Cammie, we need to get you to the nurse." Tina was saying, gently pushing me to try and get us out of the grand hall.

"I'm fine." I said through gritted teeth.

"You're obviously not. Please Cam." Kim begged. "Let's get out of here before they throw again."

Then I understood. They were trying to get me to Solomon. I relented and let them lead me from the hall, Chase, Paul, and Micah following behind us. We were practically running but they kept pace with us. We hurried to Solomon's office but we didn't make it there in time, as soon as the halls were clear they overtook us and once again circled us like predators.

"Come on girlies, where's your fight?" Micah taunted.

"Such pretty girlies." Chase pulled at our hair and skirts.

"Worthless girlies." Paul sneered at us maliciously.

We huddled around each other and they drew in closer. I swear if they didn't back off I was going to scream. Tina beat me too it. She let out a blood-curdling shriek and the boys cursed as Kim and I joined in. Solomon came barreling around the corner. The boys sprinted in the opposite direction. Solomon didn't bother chasing them.

"What happened?" He asked as soon as the boys were out of sight.

"They threw a knife at us!" Kim explained. "We were trying to find you when they circled up again."

"Cammie, are you okay?" Solomon asked, leaning down and forcing me to look him in the eye.

I forced back the pain and stared right into his eyes as I replied.

"I'm fine." I told him.

"We need to get her to a nurse." Tina asserted.

"You're right. Come on girls, I'm going to take you down there then go and check on the others." Solomon put a hand on Tina's shoulder and lead us swiftly to the nurse's office.

Good thing too, by the time we got there I was starting to feel dizzy from blood loss. Solomon quickly introduced me to the nurse and gave her strict instructions not to let a single Blackthorne Boy in unless he was accompanied by a Gallagher Girl, then he was gone.

The nurse quickly had me sit down on a paper covered hospital bed then had me remove my shirt so she could get at the cut. We ended up having to cut the shirt off. The cut was pretty deep. If the cut wasn't on me, I would've been impressed, it was quite the shot. Heck, forget the fact that it was on me, it was incredibly impressive. It required a few stitches which cause Kim to put her head on Tina's shoulder and shut her eyes. She has a thing with needles. While the nurse stitched me up, Tina mindlessly chatted.

"So today in science the weirdest thing happened. We were doing this experiment, well you probably know what it was you have the same science teacher, anyway when my partner and I were adding the hydrogen peroxide it turned blue and started to foam. It was so weird, we had the correct amounts of everything and we followed the instructions exactly so there was no reason for it to turn blue, even the teacher was baffled. Oh and then in math…" I let her words float around in my head to distract me from everything else. It was incredibly comforting.

The nurse was quick and efficient in patching me up, ten minutes later I was lounging on the bed drinking an incredibly sugary drink to help replace the blood I lost while my shirt was thrown into the garbage can. It was kind of cold in the room so the nurse gave me a warm blanket to cuddle with. While we were there, we had the nurse look at my finger and ankle as well. She said they were basically fine. She wrapped my ankle and finger again before going to get a few more blankets.

Tina and Kim were sitting on the bed with me, Tina next to me at the head of the bed and Kim down by our feet. I had my head resting on Tina's shoulder as she stroked my hair while Kim had her arms wrapped around my legs. We were all finally winding down, adrenaline glands no longer secreting, when we heard the sound of feet.

"Sounds like Solomon finally found the girls." Tina said softly.

"Just when I was about to fall asleep too." Kim grumbled.

"What did I tell you girls?" Dr. Steve bellowed as he barged into the room.

"Excuse me?" Kim asked, baffled.

"I told you girls, your poor behavior could not continue and you blatantly disobeyed me." He said, eyes flaming.

"Did I miss something?" I wondering if my blood loss caused me to pass out.

"Did you three enjoy your evening of disturbing the peace? This cannot be allowed to continue!" He yelled at us.

"Cammie's the one in the infirmary!" Tina yelled back.

"For no reason other than her own incoordination. Nothing more than an accident." Dr. Steve had made up his mind. This was all our fault. "I hope you three enjoyed your time in detention, you will spend another two weeks there."

"We didn't do anything wrong!" Kim asserted.

"You call disturbing students with your screams 'nothing'? I assure you here at Blackthorne, that is very much something." Dr. Steve argued.

"What is going on in here?" Mr. Solomon asked, the nurse on his heels.

"I was just assigning your students detention, Joseph as I hope you will as well." Dr. Steve, regaining some composure. "I also hope you will contact the Headmistress about her daughter's behavior."

"Oh I assure you, her mother will be notified of the night's events." Solomon told him, cleverly avoiding promising to punish us.

"I certainly hope she will be told the truth." Dr. Steve said, eye's narrowed.

"She will be. Now, Cammie requires rest. She was injured by your students tonight." Solomon reminded him.

"Yes...I'm sure she does." Dr. Steve gave us all one last glare before being escorted out by the nurse.

"I'm sorry you girls had to face that tonight." Solomon told us after Dr. Steve was out of earshot. "I will certainly be informing your mother of tonight's events. I've spoken with the Gallagher girls and I'm sure they'll be here shortly."

"Cammie!" Liz yelled as she ran into the room, Jonas hot on her heels.

Solomon gave us a look that said 'What did I tell you?'

"I'll go and call your mother now Miss Morgan." Solomon bid us farewell and exited to the hallway.

"Hi Liz. How did you beat everyone else here?" I asked.

"I'm down here a lot, I know a shortcut." Jonas wheezed.

"Cammie!" Macey yelled as she entered the room with Nick at her side. She looked confused when she saw Liz. "How on earth did you beat us down here?"

"Cammie's injured, let's do this later." Liz said as she crossed to my side and gently took my hand. "Solomon told us what happened. How are you?"

"I'm fine." I said sleepily.

"She is absolutely not fine, she has seven stitches and she lost a lot of blood." Tina told them.

"I'm fine." I reasserted, sitting up slightly. The rest of the Gallagher girls had filed in behind Macey and Nick but they were missing one. "Where's Bex?"

"She went to find Grant." Macey replied and almost on cue we heard feet pounding in the hall.

"CAMMIE!" Grant was yelling.

"In here." I called back feebly.

"Bloody heck Cam!" Bex yelled as she burst into the room and shoved the girls aside to get to me, Grant following anxiously behind her.

Bex unceremoniously asked Tina to move before taking her place next to me. Lizzie and Kimmy exchanged places as well while Macey remained at my side. Meanwhile, Grant paced and made threats.

"I'm going to kill them." He growled.

"They're not even worth the energy you would expend killing them." I told him.

"Yes they are, this is the second time, I won't let there be a third." Grant announced then tried to make for the door but there was a wall of Gallagher Girls blocking his way.

"Grant, I'm really fine." I tried to calm him.

"You're really not fine. Really, really not fine Cam, you're in the infirmary. The nurse might decide to make you spend the night down here." Grant was pacing faster now.

"I received an arm wound not a head injury. There's no reason to make me stay overnight." I reminded him.

"Yeah, but what if?" If he didn't calm down soon he was going wear a path in the floor.

"It's not going to happen." Bex agreed with me.

"Those guys still need to pay." Grant started up his original argument.

"And what are you going to tell Dr. Steve when he get's after you for beating them up? 'I had to beat them up because, surprise, I'm Cammie's twin brother and no one is supposed to know yet.'" Bex said imitating Grant's low voice.

"Well obviously not, but I would think of something." Grant stopped pacing for a second after Bex's argument but I could tell he was seriously considering beating the guys up.

"It's fine Grant, they're just being stupid guys. They'll get over it eventually. Besides, I really am fine." I soothed him.

"Let me see it." He said as he quickly changed course and headed for the side of the bed, causing half of the girls to jump.

"See what? The cut? Why? It's all wrapped up." I couldn't let him see it, it looked awful.

"We can re-wrap it." He argued as he jumped up onto the bed and tried to grab my arm.

"It's really okay Grant, believe me." I tried to fight off his attempts. "Besides it's cold in here and the nurse threw away my shirt."

"Here, you can wear mine." Grant said pulling his shirt over his head.

"No really it's okay I've got-" He thrust the shirt into my hands. Luckily he was wearing a wife beater underneath his t-shirt. "Got a blanket."

"Now let me see." He said, all business. I sighed and sat up slightly, Bex helping me. I began to unwrap my arm but he stopped me. "Put the shirt on first."

I groaned but pulled it painfully over my head, trying not to let on how much the movement hurt. Finally, the t-shirt was on and the injury was being unwrapped. Bex gasped when she saw it, Liz whimpered, and Grant let out a literal growl when he saw it.

"It looks worse than it is." I said feebly.

"I'll KILL them!" Grant bellowed. Once again it took all 6 Gallagher Girls to stop him.

"Cam, there's no way it looks worse than it is." Nick argued from Macey's side.

"Seriously Cammie, that's a bad cut." Jonas agreed.

"It's not that bad." I tried to soothe my friends. They were seriously not helping.

"It does look pretty bad Cam." Bex said softly.

"You know what would help? Wrapping it again so no one has to look at it." I mentioned. Bex and Macey helped me wrap it one more time while Liz soothed me by rubbing my legs lightly.

"Grant, all your yelling isn't helping. Like at all." Tina was arguing with Grant.

"You keeping me in here isn't helping at all either." He said trying to get past the Gallagher Girls.

"Yes it is, maybe Cammie needs you here. Did you ever think of that?" Tina tried.

"I'll be fast, she won't even know I was gone." He tried once more to get around them.

"She will notice, I promise. Cammie notices everything." Tina told him. "You need to stay in here and not kill your classmates. It's frowned upon in most societies, including this one."

"No one will miss them, no one likes them." Grant tried to argue.

"I don't think your teachers would appreciate it very much. You won't do anyone any good if you're kicked out of school." Tina reminded him.

"It would do me a lot of good if they're dead. You, Kim, and Cammie too." Grant said plainly.

"If you don't quiet down, you'll be dead. You're probably giving Cammie a headache." Tina whispered.

"You know what would really make me quiet down? Murder." Grant whispered back.

"We're not going to let you kill them." Tina told him.

"You don't have to let me kill them, you just have to let me out of the room." Grant said as he tried to run right through the middle of them.

"Bex, a little help?" Tina asked in a whisper yell.

"You're doing great!" Bex whisper yelled back. It was really comfortable on this bed.

"Go to sleep Cam, we'll wake you up when you can go back to the room. You need rest." Macey whispered, stroking my hair.

"No." I said feebly.

"Yes, come on Cam." Macey persuaded.

"Come lay by me." I said, pulling lightly on her arm.

Macey sighed and looked at Bex. Bex pulled me over a little more so Macey could fit then rolled me over so I was laying more on Macey. We wiggled around for a minute until I was lying entirely on Macey and Bex, I wasn't even really on the bed since Liz was still cuddling with my feet. It was incredibly comfortable. Macey was stroking my hair and Bex was scratching my back and Liz was still rubbing my legs. I started to doze off to the sounds of Tina and Grant's whisper argument and Bex's humming.

"Gallagher Girl!" Zach's voice came from down the hall.

"Bloody…" Bex mumbled.

I tried not to groan but didn't entire succeed. Luckily it came out as whimper. It's not that I didn't want to see Zach, in that moment however I wanted to sleep more.

"Now you have to be chill." Tina scolded Grant and Zach barreled into the room, Solomon behind him.

"Gallagher Girl, are you okay?" Zach asked, brushing by the other Gallagher Girls.

"Yeah I'm fine, Cammie's pretty injured though." Bex replied.

"Very funny Baxter." Zach told her voice dripping in sarcasm. It was pretty funny though, I started to giggle.

"Ow…Laughing hurts." I said drowsily.

"You hurt your arm Cam, it's not laughing that hurts but Zach grabbing your hand." Macey told me.

"Right, right." I said nodding slowly.

"Is she okay?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, she's fine she's just on a lot of pain meds." Tina explained.

"She is not fine…" Grant mumbled quietly. I heard Tina elbow him to shut him up.

"Grant, what happened to your shirt?" Zach asked.

"Cammie has it. She had throw hers away and it was cold." Grant explained. Way to be subtle Grant. I wanted Tina to elbow him again. She must've read my mind because she did.

"Yeah...okay." Zach said, confused. "How you feeling Gallagher Girl?"

"I told you Zach, I'm fine it's Cammie you should be worried about." Bex said once more and I giggled again.

"Watch it Baxter, my patience won't hold out forever." Zach grumbled.

"It better hold out for the rest of the night." Macey threatened.

"What happened tonight? How did she get this cut?" Zach asked.

"Ask Kim or Tina. They were there." Macey told him.

"I'm asking you." Zach asserted.

"All we know is Cam was cut then harassed in the halls. If you want more information you'll have to ask Tina or Kim." Bex told him. Totally a lie, but I was glad they were trying to get him to acknowledge the other Gallagher Girls.

He grumbled but didn't ask anymore questions...For about four minutes. I was finally starting to drift off again when he asked another question.

"How long is she going to be in here?" Zach asked.

Every Gallagher Girl, plus Nick, Jonas, and Grant shushed him.

"We don't know. Until the nurse says she can go." Macey whispered.

"I'll go see what I can find out." Zach whispered and then he was gone.

The Gallagher Girls had sunk to the ground, lounging on the infirmary floor in piles creating a sort of obstacle course to get through when you reached the door. They made no attempt to move for Zach causing him to grumble the whole way out. Finally, he was gone and it was quiet in the infirmary once more.

"Mick, hit the lights." Macey asked quietly, and Mick obliged.

The room fell into darkness as my best friends resumed their stroking, scratching, rubbing, and humming. I swiftly let the drowsiness over take me as I fell into a eagerly awaited sleep.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, Cammie is free to return to her room." The nurse announced an hour later. "Cammie sweetie, if there's any complications just come let me know. Try to stay off that ankle best you can."

"Thank you." We all voiced, mostly in unison.

The girls began pulling themselves off the floor. Looks like everyone fell asleep. Grant, Jonas, and Nick even leaned up against the end of the bed and fell asleep. The girls told us they would go and open the common room and set everything up for me so I could go to bed and then took off.

"Looks like Zach never came back." Bex commented as I slowly woke up.

"We don't know that." Liz said, trying to look for the best in everyone.

As awful as it sounded, I didn't really care. I still just wanted to sleep.

"Well I don't think we're gonna find out anytime soon. Come on Cam, let's get you upstairs." Macey said, pulling me to an upright position.

I placed my feet on the floor, Bex on Macey on either side of me to help support me back to our room.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're seriously gonna make her walk?" Grant asked.

"I have an injured arm, not an injured leg." I protested. They ignored me.

"Well how else do you propose we get her upstairs?" Macey replied.

Grant rolled his eyes and stepped forward and scooped me up in his arms.

"Grant, I can't ask you to carry me all the way upstairs." I protested.

"You didn't ask, I didn't really give you a choice." Grant reminded me.

"I can walk." I told him.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should have to." He said. "It's no trouble Cam, seriously. Just let it happen."

I was too tired to argue anymore. I was on edge, worried we'd see Chase, Paul, or Micah, but I relaxed slightly as we made it back to the common room and finally to the sanctuary of our corridor. Nick and Jonas stood at the door like gentlemen and waited while Grant deposited me safely on my bed.

"Thank you Grant, that was very kind of you." I said politely.

"Hey, what are big brothers for?" He said with a wink. He kissed my forehead. "Night kid."

"We have absolutely no way of knowing who is older!" I reminded him as he kissed Bex goodnight.

"I hope you feel better Cam." Nick said as Macey escorted him to the door.

"If you need anything, let us know." Jonas said kindly. I waved to him as Liz walked him out.

"Until tomorrow, Bex." Grant said as they rested their foreheads together. I fought the urge to go 'awww'.

"I'll count the seconds." She said poetically. They were so freaking cute together, I wanted to die.

He winked at her and kissed her hands as he backed dramatically out of the room. Bex shut the door behind him and collapsed on her bed.

"That was adorable." I told her.

"Tell me about it. Cam, I think I'm in love with your brother." She informed me.

"I think I'm glad you're in love with my brother. You two are perfect for each other. You deserve a guy like him." I said with a smile.

"We could sit here talking all night, we need to get you in the shower then into bed." Bex said jumping to her feet.

Bex gently helped me remove the wraps around my bicep, finger, and ankle before helping me remove Grants shirt and leaving me to shower. I managed to shower without injuring myself further, but getting soap in my cut seriously hurt. After my shower Liz met me at the door with pajamas. I seriously had the best friends in the world.

"You guys are honestly the best, thank you so much for your help." I told them, grateful.

"You'd do the same from anyone of us." Macey commented as she began brushing out my wet hair.

After my hair was brushed and braided, all four of us climbed into bed and shut off the lights. What a week.

As time wore on, we grew more and more comfortable in our new environment. We got along pretty well with the guys (well, most of the guys) and we were doing really well in our classes. Thanks to the science labs new healing cream, my cut was completely healed only a few days after the incident leaving only a thin pink scar.

Unfortunately I saw even less of Zach. One of my most memorable and worst experiences with Zach was the day I saw him teasing the 6th graders. We were going down to the grand hall for dinner when I saw Zach playing keep away some sort of notebook.

Zach let out a cruel sort of laugh. "Torro! Torro!" He called as if he were in a bullfight.

"Zach! Leave him alone!" I begged from across the hall. Zach gave me an exasperated look before tossing the notebook across the room and turning on his heel without another word.

"Okay now bend a little more." I instructed Thomas during another one of our gymnastic lessons.

"I'm bending as far as I can, Cam." He told me.

"Bex, give him a hand." I asked then Bex applied just enough pressure to convince Thomas that he could indeed bend farther.

"Okay, okay, I think that's good for the backbend!" Thomas protested.

"No way you're almost there." Bex argued before pushing him the rest of the way down.

"Ow." He said softly as his hands hit the floor and his backbend was perfected.

"Great job Thomas." I praised as we helped him stand up again.

"Ugh. The torture you two put me through." He groaned as he dropped to the floor.

Bex snorted. "Please, I'm being soft. Cam is way worse than I am."

Thomas looked at me in disbelief. I shrugged.

"Guilty." I told him as I tossed him a waterbottle.

"On the bright side you've got your backbend now." Bex said cheerfully.

"I don't think I can do that again." Thomas argued.

"Oh believe me, you will be able to do a backbend again. Wanna check?" I asked taking a step closer to him, he scooted away.

"I'm good. I think we're done for the day." He said slightly scared. Bex and I laughed, it didn't take him long to join in.

"Cam!" Mick called from the doorway. "Your beast of a boyfriend is waiting at the common room and he refuses to speak to anyone but you."

The Gallagher Girls had taken to calling Zach that. He wasn't exactly open about talking to many of them, other than me, Bex, Liz, and Macey. I didn't exactly approve of the nickname, but I understood where it came from. Zach knew about it, but he mistakenly took it as a compliment.

"Okay, thanks Mick. We'll be there in a minute." I called back. She nodded before turning and leaving the gym.

"Alright Thomas, looks like you got lucky." I told him as I pulled my sweaty hair off my neck.

"Oh thank the stars." He sighed dramatically. "So I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Dinner is probably more likely though, seeing as it's sooner." Bex teased.

"Hardy har har." Thomas said as he climbed to his feet and headed for the guys locker room.

Bex and I headed for the doors and made way for the common room.

"Something important must being going on, Zach never comes to the common room." Bex pointed out. It was a true statement, I don't think he'd been there once.

"That's what makes me eager to get there." I told her as I picked up my pace.

"Race ya." Bex said, whizzing past me.

I took off after her, dodging Blackthorne Boys and teachers alike.

"Miss Morgan!" Dr. Steve called after us. Bex and I skidded to a stop.

"Yes sir?" I asked, slightly out of breath.

"I don't know how you do things at Gallagher," I knew exactly what was coming next. "But here at Blackthorne running through the halls is completely unacceptable. Let's add another week of detention why don't we?"

"She wasn't the only one running." Bex told him.

He completely ignored Bex as he turned and walked away.

"Did that really just happen?" I asked as he turned the corner.

"I do believe it did...I can't believe this." Bex exclaimed.

"Are you seriously upset because you didn't get detention?" I asked.

"No, I'm upset you did when we were both causing trouble. How am I supposed to retain my title of your partner in crime if no one will convict us both for the crime?" She complained.

"We'll discuss your warped sense of upsetting scenario's later. Let's go before our sisters kill my boyfriend." I said, pulling on her arm.

Considering the fact that I already got detention for running in the halls, we assumed it was safe to run the rest of the way to the common room. We made it to the common room in good time, but apparently not good enough because Zach had already left.

"Hey guys, I heard Zach was waiting for me?" I asked as I entered the common room.

"Yeah, he insisted on waiting in your guys' corridor. We told him he wasn't allowed but it wasn't Macey, Liz, or Bex that said it so he ignored us." Eva told me.

I winced. "Sorry guys, he'll warm up to you eventually, I'm sure." I told them as I went in to find Zach.

"There you are." He said as I entered the room. He had been sitting on my bed, fiddling with something.

"Here I am." I grinned and leaned down to kiss him. He received it excitedly. "What's up?"

"Wanted to talk to you about something. Where were you?" He asked, pulling me onto his lap and tickling my sides lightly.

"I was down in the gym with Bex and Thomas." I told him, climbing back to my feet to pick up my water bottle.

"Thomas?" He asked.

"Yeah. And Bex." I reminded him. I wasn't going to give him a reason not to trust me.

"Stay away from him Cam, he's bad news." He said solemnly.

"Thomas? He's great." I disagreed. "He's really helped me settle into Blackthorne."

Zach sighed. "Just try to stay away from him. Okay? For me?" He pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

"I'll be careful, I don't know if I can stay away from him exactly. We have most of our classes together." I pointed out.

He sighed again. "Okay. I'll take what I can get."

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"You said you wanted to talk to me about something, what is it?" I reminded him.

"Oh right. Eh, it doesn't matter. I'll talk to you later." He quickly jumped to his feet and kissed me on the cheek before leaving the room.

"...Okay?" I said to the empty room.

"I had the weirdest encounter with Zach today." I told Macey at dinner later that night.

"Really? What happened?" Macey asked.

"Well first of all he came to the common room looking for me-"

"And he refused to freaking leave. We told him she was in the gym but he just ignored us and went into your corridor." Mick added, cutting me off.

"Yeah, then when I went to talk to him he told me he wanted to talk to me about something, warned me to stay away from Thomas of all people, then told me what he wanted to talk to me about wasn't important then left." I told them, then waited for analysis.

"That is bizarre." Macey said after a moment's thought.

"Well yeah, I got that." I said, gesturing for her to continue.

"That's all I've got. That's really bizarre." Macey told me, shrugging her shoulders.

"Hey Cam, try some of this chicken." Eva said holding out her fork.

"Ugh. No thanks I've had chicken way too much this week. I'll stick with the salad." I said pushing it away.

"Okay...Kimmy, you try it." Eva said trying to give a bite to Kim.

"I'm with Cam. I'm entirely sick of chicken." Kim said pushing the fork away.

"Here, I'll try it." Bex said reaching for the fork.

Blackthorne's food was pretty good but it was not as good as Gallaghers. One can only take so much chicken. Unfortunately the only other person that thought so was Kim, everyone else was down with chicken.

"Bex, you have your own chicken on your plate." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but what if Eva's is better?" She said as she took a big bite.

Every single Gallagher Girl regretted eating chicken that night. It started with Bex at 10:04, a mere fifteen minutes after we went to bed. She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. She managed to make it to the toilet before blowing chunks. I went in after her and held her hair back. I helped her climb back into bed before Macey jumped up and followed Bex's example. Macey was in bed and so was I when Liz stumbled out of bed and crashed into the door on her way to the bathroom five minutes later. After Liz, I went to check on the other girls and managed to get there just in time to help Tina.

The remainder of my night was spent running from bathroom to bathroom with Kim, trying to help our friends. Eventually, I sent Kim to the infirmary to see if the nurse had anything to help them. She came back empty handed and so we continued running from bathroom to bathroom.

Every single one of our friends cursed the chicken as they spent the night trying to get rid of the food poisoning that accompanied it. Around 6:30 in the morning, the throwing up finally slowed down enough for our friends to fall asleep. Just in time for Kim and I to get ready for the day's classes. Kim and I showered and quietly got ready for day and just as we were about to leave, the girls woke up.

"Hey Cam?" Bex asked quietly before I could step outside our door.

"Yeah Bex?" I replied.

"Can I have some water?" She asked, gesturing to her water bottle. It had been about four hours since she last threw up. I figured it was safe.

"Sure, but only take tiny sips. We don't want you to upset your stomach again." I said handing her the bottle on her dresser.

"Thanks. Will you help me get out to the common room?" She asked as she took a tiny sip.

"Sure thing. Come on, I'll grab your pillow and blanket." Bex carefully got to her feet and wobbled out to the common room, clutching her water bottle.

I turned one of the couches so it was facing the TV before helping her cuddle up in one of the corners. I then snuck carefully into the corridor opposite ours to grab some of Tina's movies.

"Cammie?" Tina asked.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"What are you doing?" She wondered.

"Grabbing a movie for Bex to watch." I told her.

"Oh. Can I watch it with her?" She asked sitting up.

"Yeah, come on." I helped Tina settle into the couch next to Bex and started a movie for them before going to get my backpack from my room.

"Cammie?" Macey asked.

"Yeah?" I already knew what she was going to ask.

"Will you help me get to the common room?" She asked quietly.

"Sure, let's go."

I set Macey next to Tina then helped Kim get Eva and Mick onto the opposite couch as well. Kim and I were about to leave for breakfast when Liz, Anna, and Courtney decided they wanted to watch the movie too. We made sure all eight of them were settled in with water bottles and garbage cans within their reach. As soon as we stuck coms in our ears in case they needed us and made sure they were comfortable, Kim and I finally left for breakfast.

"Poor girls." I said as we shut the door behind us.

"I know...I'm really really glad I didn't eat the chicken." Kim told me.

"Believe me, so am I." We hurried to the grand hall and picked up some fruit to eat before crossing to our table.

"Wow, it's so empty without them." Kim noted.

"Yeah...pretty quiet too." I pointed out.

"Yeah. My classes are going to be so boring. We only have P&E and Weapons together." Kim reminded me.

"I wish you had cove ops. We should probably get homework for the girls so they don't fall too far behind." I mused.

"Well, well, well. Only two girlies today. Where are your friends?" Micah commented as he took a seat on my left.

"None of your business." I said calmly.

"Poor girlies. Sick girlies." Paul said as he sat on Kim's right.

"It's okay. We've got the pretty girlies." Chase stroked my hair lightly and grabbed my apple, taking a bite out of it.

"Please go away." Kim said nicely, trying to obey Solomon.

"We can't leave you girlies alone. Someone might try to hurt you." Micah said, stroking my bicep where he knew my scar lay.

"Someone like you?" I asked, shrinking away from Micah.

"Sure...someone like us." Chase whispered in my ear. I moved to the edge of my chair to try and get away from him.

Kim shrunk closer to me and the boys leaned in closer around us. Chase slid a hand down my back, Micah blocked our exit from the left and Paul from the right. Paul was laughing maliciously right in Kim's ear and she gripped my hand, more from anger than in fear. My vision started going red. I imagined launching my elbow out and catch Micah in the jaw. I never got the chance.

"Is there a problem here?" Nick's voice asked.

"Hale. No, no problem." Chase said cooly, twisting a piece of my hair around his finger.

"Oh good, then you'll leave." Jonas said, making it clear it wasn't a suggestion.

"We're just having a bit of fun with the girlies." Micah said twirling a knife in his fingers.

"Fun's over. Get out of here." Grant said harshly. I could hear the forced restraint in his voice. Apparently so could Chase, Micah, and Paul because without another word they stood up and walked away.

"Are you guys okay?" Jonas asked, worried.

"Yeah, yeah we're fine." I replied as Kim and I released each other and leaned back in our chairs. We kept our ankles locked as our adrenaline slowed and eventually came to a stop.

"Those guys are jerks." Nick said as Grant took a seat next to me and Jonas sat next to Kim.

"We're well aware." Kim told him.

"Where is everyone else?" Grant asked.

"Sick. They all got food poisoning from the chicken." I told them, running a hand over my face. "We were up all night with them. We're exhausted. If you guys hadn't shown up I honestly think I might have killed those three."

"Maybe we should've waited a little longer." Grant commented.

"I'm glad we got here when we did." Nick said with a smile.

"Yeah well, I kinda wish we had killed them. Would've made today easier." Kim said testily. I placed a hand on her arm.

"So the rest of the girls are really sick?" Jonas clarified.

"Yep. All eight of them. They're holed up in the common room and are not to be bothered. Any and all visits will be limited to five minutes." I said firmly. "They need rest."

"So do you two if you were up all night." Grant pointed out.

We waved off his concern. "We're fine, a night without sleep isn't going to kill us." I said as I woefully picked up my apple.

"Cammie, please tell me you're not going to eat that." Kim said as she watched me stare at the apple.

"There's absolutely no way I'm going to eat this." I told her truthfully. "It's contaminated now."

"Good. Ugh, I don't even have an appetite anymore those guys make me sick." Kim sighed at her own apple.

"I agree." I said as I shot my apple into the garbage can a few yards away. Kim followed my example.

"The way they were-" Kim was cut off by an appearance by Dr. Excellent.

"Girls." He said sternly. Kim and I sighed, we knew what was coming. "This behavior truly is unacceptable. Seeing as the garbage can is less than thirty feet away I would hope you would find the will to walk to the garbage can instead of endangering other students by throwing them."

"We're sorry Dr. Steve." Kim and I said in unison.

"I'm sure you are." Kim and I are snarky little brats so we mouthed the next thing he said with him. "Another week's detention."

We looked at each other and rolled our eyes before intoning our acknowledgement of the assignment, but he was already gone.

"Endangering other students?" Nick said incredulously. "He has got to be kidding."

"I really wish he was. All of his complaints are like that." I told him before turning to Kim. "You were saying?"

"Right. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by our oh so gracious host, the way Chase was touching you made me want to rip his arm off." She growled.

"Believe me, I was about to." I told her shaking my head.

"He was what now?" Grant asked protectively.

"He likes to run his fingers up and down Cammie's back and to play with her hair. He's a real creep like that." Kim told him, obviously not catching my frantic eye movements trying to get her to shut up.

"I'm going to kill him." Grant announced, climbing to his feet.

"No." I said trying to pull him back into his seat. He slipped from my grasp but Nick grabbed him and set him down again. "He's not even worth it."

"Oh yes, he is." Grant tried to climb to his feet once more. Nick pushed on his shoulders so he had to remain seated.

"No, he's not." I kept a firm grip on his arm. "As soon as you do, he wins. I have to act like it's not effecting me and eventually they'll leave us alone."

"That is so twisted it's not even funny." Jonas commented.

"Nothing about this is funny. Unfortunately with our current orders, it's all we can do." Kim replied.

"Orders? What is this, the army?" Nick asked.

"With Solomon in charge? Pretty much." I replied. "We've got a legacy to defend and if this is how we need to do it, then this is how it will be done."

"I'm sure glad I don't have a legacy to defend." Grant said, trying to get up again. Nick sighed before pushing him back down.

"You may not have a legacy to defend, but you do have a class to get to." Jonas told him and is on cue, the bell rang.

"I'm walking you to your first class." Grant told me firmly, leaving no room for argument.

I sighed. "Fine. Let's go before we're late."

We all climbed to our feet and started for the doors, Jonas, Nick, and Grant making a protective circle around Kim and I. Grant and I split off from the others, Jonas promised to make sure Kim got to class alright which shouldn't be too difficult seeing as they have their first class together.

Not only did Grant walk me to my first class, he walked me to my seat next to Thomas and gave my guide strict instructions to 'watch me' whatever that was supposed to mean. Luckily Thomas didn't take it as seriously as Grant intended, that would've been irritating. After class, I got some homework for Liz and then Thomas and I made our way through the halls to History.

Unfortunately, Chase just so happened to be in the same semi-empty hallway. Fortunately, he was going in the opposite direction. However, he went out of his way to 'bump' into me. His 'bump' involved crashing into me, holding me against the wall. His hand 'accidentally' went up my skirt and squeezed my thigh.

"Sorry little girlie." He said sarcastically as he held me against the wall. Thomas grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him off of me. Chase grinned at my growl then, he disappeared into the crowd.

"What was that about?" Thomas asked as I watched Chase walk away.

"Nothing." I said distractedly. "Let's get to class."

"Cammie, that didn't look like nothing. Is that guy bothering you?" Thomas asked, stopping me.

"I'm fine." I began walking again and he stopped me once more.

"That's not what I asked." He reminded me.

"I'm fine." I asserted, making it clear that I wasn't going to answer any questions.

He nodded his assent and we made our way to class. He kept me positioned between himself and the wall, he looked ready to jump in front of me to protect me if necessary.

"Hey Cam, where are the rest of the Gallagher Girls?" Thomas asked.

"They're sick, food poisoning." I told him, keeping a wary eye out.

Somehow, Grant actually managed to make it to class before us. He and Zach were sitting at his desk, Zach sitting backwards in the chair in front of Grant's desk. Grant's head whipped around as Thomas and I entered and Zach frowned. I almost forgotten about his order to stay away from Thomas.

"Hey Cam. How was class?" Grant asked. I caught his hidden question.

"It was great." I replied, trying to keep him calm. I hoped Thomas would do the same but apparently he was not on board with the plan.

"We ran into Chase on the way here. Well, more like Chase ran into us. Well, more like Chase ran into Cammie." Thomas told them.

"I thought I told you to watch her!" Grant exclaimed.

"This has happened before?" Thomas turned to Zach "I can't believe you let another guy treat your girlfriend like that."

"Cammie can take care of herself." Zach said calmly.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up. "I told you Thomas, I'm fine."

"Oh come on Goode, you seriously aren't going to do anything?" Thomas ignored me.

"Why should I? Cammie's not helpless. If she has a problem she'll take care of it." Zach said, gripping the back of the chair. This was about to get ugly.

"That's such bull! Cammie's not invincible. I can't-" The bell cut off what Thomas was about to say.

Zach glared at Thomas one last time before standing up and kissing me.

"Mr. Goode, please kiss your girlfriend on your own time. I have a class to teach." Mr. Sharp teased lightly.

"Sorry sir." Zach said before glaring at Thomas and walking to his seat.

"I can't believe you're dating that jerk." Thomas whispered to me before pulling out his notes and copying down what Mr. Sharp was writing on the board.

I was thinking of a response when a note landed on my desk from Grant. Oh boy.

What happened?

I quickly scribbled a reply and waited until Mr. Sharp's back was turned to pass it back.

Nothing.

His reply was written angrily. I got the feeling he didn't believe me.

That's bull and you know it. What happened.

There was no way I was getting around this. I decided to play it down a little.

Chase ran into me in the hallway. I bumped into the wall. Nothing big.

His reply took longer this time. He erased what he originally wrote and replace it with:

I'm walking you to your next class.

I sighed. This couldn't go on.

Grant, you know you can't. We're being conspicuous enough as it is. No more. I'm not risking your safety.

It was while before it was safe for him to pass the note back.

I'm not risking yours either. We're gonna have to find a compromise. We'll talk later.

I resisted the urge to sigh again. Were all brothers like this? I certainly hoped not...history ended a few minutes after the last note was passed. Glory hallelujah, it was almost time for cov ops.

I hurriedly packed up my stuff and began to head for my math class. I thought I left Grant in the dust, but he caught up quickly. I sighed.

"I don't need you to walk me to class Grant." I whispered.

"My class is in the same direction." He replied.

"Your class is on the other side of the school." I reminded him.

"So I'm three seconds late to foreign languages." He shrugged it off. "No big."

"Grant, I'm not even going to see Chase, Paul, or Micah. They're classes are on the other side of the school. I'm fine." I told him. I must have convinced him because he reluctantly turned and headed for his foreign language class.

I kept an eye out for Kim as I wandered down the hall and almost completely missed Micah coming at me. What the heck? He was supposed to be in the subs for double cov ops. All seniors had it. I quickly scanned for an escape route. Out of the corner of my eye I saw what I vehemently hoped was a secret passage. Bingo. I slipped into the passage and closed it just before Micah reached me.

I waited for my eyes to adjust as Micah banged on the wall, trying to figure out how to get in. As soon as I could see I carefully made my way forward, trying to find another way out, and I almost tripped over a small figure. A kid, a minnow they called them here. He looked up at me absolutely terrified. I help a finger to my lips and held out my hand for him to take, he hesitated for a minute but then took it.

"Help me get out of here?" I whispered to him and he nodded bravely.

He took me down the hall a little further and took a left and then another left before pointing at the far wall. I nodded my thanks and exited the passage right in front of my math class. I hurried into the room before Micah could see me, just a few yards away. I sighed in relief as I reached the noise of the classroom.

I went up to the teacher and asked for homework for Mick and Anna before taking my seat. All through math I kept glancing at the doorway, each time expecting to see Micah there and ready to kill him if he we were just reviewing, I started working on my friends homework so they would have less to do while they were sick. Luckily, the class passed without a glimpse of Micah. Or Paul or Chase. The bell rang and I eagerly jumped to my feet, ready for the full sanctuary that came with Solomon's class and the comfort of another Gallagher Girl.

"Cammie!" Kim yelled as she spotted me in the hall.

"Kimmy!" I called in reply then waited for her to catch up.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to see you." She said when she reached my side.

"Not as glad as I am to see you. I had another run in with Chase and narrowly avoided one with Micah." I informed her.

"Yeah, I just barely missed one with Paul." She told me.

"Ugh. Paul's practically obsessed with you." I told her.

"At least it's not as bad as Chase with you." She said shaking her head.

"Speak of the devil." I whispered as our three tormentors appeared at the end of the hall.

We stopped in our tracks. As the time drew nearer for the bell to ring, the halls emptied. We had to get out of here before we were completely alone with them. I would actually take Dr. Excellent giving us more detention over Chase, Paul, and Micah.

"The bulldozers…" Kim whispered in reply. I gave her a weird look and she blushed. "I gave them a nickname-"

I cut her off. "Let's talk about this later."

"Right." Kim nodded and we straightened. We began walking towards Cov ops. Just our luck that they blocked the one way to the subs.

For a minute I actually thought we were going to get by them without an issue but then Micah reached out and grabbed my arm, slamming me into the wall. Paul pulled Kim toward him and trapped her between him and the wall. My ears were ringing from Micah slamming me into the wall and my sight was fuzzy but I could feel Micah's fingernails cutting through my shirt into my arm. Did he freaking file them into points?

Someone was pulling on my arm and I stumbled forward only to be slammed into Kim. That was it. I threw an arm out and swung where I calculated Micah was. My fist flew true and I hit his jaw. I used the time it took him to recover to observe my surroundings. Chase was still leaning up against the wall. Kim had followed my example and was now fighting with Paul.

I looked back at Micah just in time to get punched in the gut. I reacted with an punch to the face. He dodged and came at me again. I dodged by ducking down. He however knew what I was going to do and I was met with knee in my gut. Ow. I launched my elbow toward his face but he dodged. I swung my foot and it connected with his knee. He hissed but otherwise didn't react. He launched a kick toward my rib cage I failed to catch it and his left foot connected with my already sore torso. I was waiting for his next move when Chase tackled me from behind.

We crashed to the floor and grappled for control. We were rolling around on the ground, each one trying to get on top. I took the opportunity to kick Paul's feet out from underneath him for Kim. She mumbled her thanks as she gained the upperhand. Chase took advantage of my momentary distraction and slammed my head into the ground and threw a punch at my face. I caught it in the cheekbone and tried not to grunt in pain.

He took his time pinning me to the ground, the bell ringing in the background. He used his knees to hold my arms to the ground, his feet applying pressure in just the right places so I couldn't kick him. I was still disoriented from him hitting my head against the ground when he started talking to me.

"Silly girlie. Thought she could beat me." He stroked my face gently. Creep. "It's okay girlie. I like a girlie with a little fight in her."

He pulled on the collar of my blouse with one hand while the other fiddled with the bottom button. I began to squirm. Why has nobody seen this? Why were there no teachers around? Why was I so helpless? Why? Why? Why? He laughed as I squirmed.

"Don't worry girlie. I'm not that kind of guy." He whispered in my ear as he fixed my skirt which had flown up in the fight. Thank heavens I had worn shorts underneath. "I just wanted a little peak. I'll save that for later."

I saw Paul pull something similar with Kim a few feet away.

I spit in Chase's face. "Get off me you creep."

"Now now girlie." Micah called as he appeared over Chase's shoulder. Looks like he finally recovered. "That's not very nice."

"BOYS!" Solomon's voice roared at them from down the hall.

"Time to go girlie." Micah called as he started to run.

Chase took his time. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned before leaning down and, holding my face still, kissed me.

"Bye bye girlie." He whispered as he jumped up and followed Paul. Solomon went after them.

"Kim!" I yelled, rolling onto my stomach, looking for her.

"Cam!" She replied a few feet away.

We reached out for each other. We grabbed each other's arms and huddled together. As soon as she touched my arm she broke down crying. I pulled her head onto my lap and began stroking her hair like I did for Bex.

"Shhh." I said soothingly, trying to help her calm down.

"That perv!" She yelled through her sobs.

"It's okay Kimmy, it's okay. Shhh." I gently stroked her hair.

"How are you so fine?" She asked between her sobs.

"For you Kimmy. I'll cry later." I said with a small smile. "Shhh."

Slowly, ever so slowly, she calmed down enough to stop crying. She had just finished crying when the guys found us.

"Cam!" Grant yelled as he came into sight. "Kim! Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine." I replied calmly.

"You guys do not look fine." Nick argued as he appeared.

"We're fine." Kim asserted.

"Cam! Kim!" Jonas yelled as he popped into view. "What happened? You guys didn't come to class and no one knew where you were and Solomon dismissed the class after like three seconds and-"

"Not now Jonas." Grant interrupted, examining what I assumed was a bruise on my cheek. "I'll kill him."

"I think Solomon may have beat you to it." I told him, smiling slightly.

"Stop trying to make jokes, you're not funny." He ordered. "I think you're bleeding."

"I'm not bleeding." I argued, still stroking Kim's hair. It probably calmed me more than it did her.

"Jonas, is Cammie's head bleeding?" Grant asked.

"I'll check in a second." He was examining Kim's bloodied nails. "You must have really done a number on this guy."

"Yeah, he's got some nice scratches on his cheek." Kim smiled at the thought. "Hey Cam, how many weeks of detention do you think we'll get this time?"

"Hmm…Well, we disrupted a class, held other students back from class, didn't go to class ourselves, injured other students, and most likely distracted other students from their studies with all the noise we made so I think we're looking at a good five weeks." I said thinking about all the possible infractions.

"You forgot getting blood on the carpet. We'll probably get six." Kim added.

"Right. Six weeks sounds about right." I smiled. "I think that's a new record."

"You two are insane." Jonas said as he moved to examine my head. "Oh wow. Okay, yeah, Cammie's bleeding alright."

"I told you!" Grant yelled.

"I'm fine!" I yelled back, wincing at the sudden pain in my head.

"Cam, this is pretty bad. We need to get you to the nurse. Kim needs to go too, I think she has a concussion." Jonas told me solemnly.

"Come on, let's go before Dr. Excellent finds us." Nick said reaching a hand down to pull us to our feet.

Kim and I reluctantly climbed to our feet and discovered that Kim injured her ankle and I made my previous injury worse. Great. We limped down to the infirmary and when the nurse cause sight of us she sighed before directing us to the same table she patched me up on a few days earlier before asking the boys to leave. We asked them to go tell the other Gallagher Girls what happened but they were not allowed to let them leave the common room.

Kim and I took a seat and I insisted she looked at Kim first. She cleaned and wrapped the uncovered nail bed and wrapped her ankle. She tested her eye sight and decided she had a minor concussion. Hopefully nothing to worry about. Kim also had a cut on her cheekbone that she cleaned and placed a band aid on.

Next the nurse examined my bloody head. Luckily I didn't need stitches or staples. She wiped it clean, as well as a cut on my cheek I didn't know I had and other than bruised knuckles, I was good to go. Until Kim called me out.

"She received three hits to the stomach, I think she bruised a rib." Kim told the nurse.

"Oh dear. Shirt off Miss Morgan, let me see." The nurse said kindly. I unbuttoned my blouse and let the nurse slowly feel my ribs. "Well I think your friend is certainly right about the bruise, but I think you were lucky enough to avoid breaking it."

I sighed in relief then winced in pain. My rib was definitely bruised. I slowly re-buttoned my shirt while the nurse wrapped my ankle. Kim and I were just about ready to leave when a knock came on the door. A rather angry knock. Dr. Excellent had arrived.

"Miss Morgan, Miss Lee, I truly hoped you had moved past this." He began pacing. Kim and I settled in for a long lecture. "First you avoid going to class, which is bad enough but then you make it worse by holding other students back from their class as well. Then you attack them and make a mess of the hallway. If that's not bad enough you disrupted the classes around and your own class by making the teacher come and find you. Let's count the infractions shall we? Skipping class, forcing others to skip class, injuring other students, making a mess of the campus, disrupting classes, disrupting students, and wasting a teacher's valuable time. Seven infractions, seven weeks of detention."

He gave us one last stern glare before turning on his heel and exiting the infirmary. We waited for the door to close behind him before talking.

"You know I think he has officially given us more weeks of detention than we will be here." I told Kim.

"Not quite, we're at eleven weeks and we've already done one. Three more weeks then we'll be over time." Kim corrected.

"Drat. I kind of want to see how high he'll go." I told her.

"Me too. At least Tina wasn't assigned the seven weeks. She would go mad." Kim joked and I laughed.

"I think we would go mad if we had to spend ten weeks in detention with Tina." I continued.

"I think the teacher would go mad if he had to spend ten weeks in detention with Tina." Kim and I howled with laughter for a few seconds before we remembered we were in pain and stopped.

"How did you get to eleven weeks?" I asked. She should've only had ten, like Tina.

"That one morning when I bumped into a kid in the hall." She reminded me.

"Oh yeah."

"Hey, are you guys almost done in here? The Gallagher Girls are not very happy." Jonas said as he appeared breathless in the doorway.

"Yeah, we can go now." I turned to face the nurse. "Can't we?"

"Yes, you are free to go. Try to avoid getting in anymore fights!" She called as we left the infirmary.

"We will!" Kim and I called as Jonas led us back to the Gallagher Girls common room.

Jonas wasn't lying when he said he had a short cut. We made it back to the common room in excellent time. It appears that we made it just before the Gallagher Girls started rioting.

"Grant Newman-wait, Morgan...whoever you are! If you don't move in the next five seconds I am going to-"

"Whoa there Mace, no need to make threats." I called as I burst through the door and into the common room trying not to clutch my bruised rib.

"Cammie! Thank the stars." Grant said as he ran and hid behind me. "I have never been so scared in my entire life."

"Cam! Kim!" Our names were called out from girls all over the room as Jonas shut and locked the door behind him.

Questions shot at us from all over the room, getting louder and louder as each girl scrambled to be heard. Bex was the loudest so we answered her question first.

"What bloody well happened?" Bex yelled in full british accent.

"We'll tell you if you quiet down." Kim yelled over the noise and miraculously everyone shut up.

"Thank you. Kim will tell the story now." I said as soon as everyone settled down.

Kim, always one for the dramatic flare, stood up on the coffee table and was about to begin her dramatic story when there was a knock on the door. She sighed in frustration and waited for me to go answer it. I pulled the door open just as Solomon was inserting his key, Zach at his side.

"Hello boys." I said with a grin. "Care to come in?"

"Cammie, what the heck happened?" Zach asked.

"I was just about to tell everyone, before you interrupted." Kim told him from where she was perched.

"Well by all means, continue your story. I find myself wanting to know what happened as well." Solomon said as he leaned up against the far wall.

"Okay. Cammie, will you come here?" Kim asked. I could tell she wasn't eager to tell the story solo so I crossed the room and stood next to her on the table, gripping her hand for support. Kim took this hit the hardest.

"Wait, everyone comfortable?" I asked before Kim could start. When everyone nodded I let Kim start the story.

"Okay so the story actually starts this morning. After Cam and I made sure you guys were set, we went down to the grand hall and grabbed some apples. We were just sitting there minding our own business when the bulldozers appeared. Micah and Paul sat next to me and Cam while Chase stood behind us. We were trapped. Micah was practically biting Cam's head off while Paul just stared at me. Then-"

"What was Chase doing?" Anna asked.

"Chase was being his usual creepy self, messing with Cam's hair and touching her back all weird. Oh! And he took her apple and took a bite out of it and our appetites totally disappeared."

"Ew!" Eva yelled.

"Yeah I know right? Then they were being all threatening and we were about to flip out at them when glory sing the hallelujah chorus Nick, Grant, and Jonas appeared and made them leave." There was a knock on the door.

"Our heroes." I put in gratefully. Solomon opened the door to see Thomas.

"Some heroes...weren't even there when you really needed us." Nick mumbled. Thomas stood by Solomon and Zach in the back.

"Oh hush, you guys totally saved us." Kim kicked an empty water bottle at him then continued the story. "Anyway all was well and we carried on our merry way to class. All was honky dory but then on our way to second period Cam ran into Chase. I don't really know what happened there."

She turned to me and I knew it was my turn to explain. How to put this gently…

"Well it's more like Chase ran into me. He bumped into me and slammed against the wall. Nothing huge." I said, hoping that Thomas would keep his mouth shut. Zach seemed to remember something and slipped from the room.

"Um, that's not all that happened." Thomas said raising his hand slightly. I widened my eyes at him, trying to get him to shut up. He did not get the message.

"What else happened?" Bex asked, concerned.

"Well I didn't really see everything but it looked like Chase-" I coughed loudly trying to get him to shut up. He finished his statement anyway. "It looked like Chase did something inappropriate."

"What?!" The girls all exclaimed. Bex hurriedly wrapped her hands over a murderous looking Grant's mouth while Grant wrapped his arms around Bex's legs.

"Nothing happened!" I yelled over their questions. "I'm fine."

Kim gave me a look that meant 'I'll let this go for now but don't think we're done talking about this. We'll talk about this when the guys aren't here.' I know, it was quite the look. Finally everyone quieted down and Grant calmed down enough for Bex to let go of his mouth. Kim continued.

"Right so after Cammie and Chase's...encounter, we made it through third period. I caught up to Cam after dodging Paul and after Cam dodged Micah. This is where it gets messy. We were walking to cov ops when we saw them. We tried to walk right by them but there was no way they were going to let that happen. Micah grabbed Cam, Paul grabbed me while Chase just stood there. We tried to slip away but they were completely just…" She trailed off and picked up where she left off.

"They flung us around for a while before we decided to fight back. I took down Micah before Chase took over and had his fun. Paul was fighting Kim and she was ahead for a while before Micah gave him a hand. Paul was on Kim and Chase was on me when Solomon appeared and sent them running." I stated it factually and avoided all details. I wasn't ready to break down yet.

"We went to the nurse and got patched up, and now here we are." Kim finished.

"Oh my gosh...you guys." Tina said, jumping up to hug us. Within seconds all the sick Gallagher Girls were hugging Kim and I.

We stood in our group hug for a few seconds before all settling down and Kim and I prepared ourselves for questions. Thomas walked over and joined the other Blackthorne Boys after waving to Mick.

"Okay, I'm sure you guys have questions. Go for it." Kim said as soon as everyone was comfortable again.

"I have one, where's the beast?" Eva asked as she noticed the lack of Zach.

I rolled my eyes. "He left a couple minutes ago. Next."

"My turn. Why are you here?" Mick asked Thomas.

"I heard you were sick and wanted to come check on you." He replied with a smile.

"Aww. Thanks." Mick smiled back at him.

"Okay, I have a real question." Liz said raising her hand.

"Go for it Lizzie." I told her.

"What are you going to do about Chase, Paul, and Micah?"

"I'm not sure...there's nothing we really can do." Kim told her honestly.

"We already have another seven weeks of detention after today's event." I told them.

"What?! Are you serious?" All the girls exploded into protests.

"Solomon, help!" I called over their noise.

"Alright, alright, girls. Calm down." He settled their arguments. "I can't revoke detentions another teacher has assigned but I will see what I can do. I agree that the detentions are wrongly assigned and excessive."

"Solomon, where did you go after you got there?" Grant asked.

"I caught them and took them to the weapons teacher for punishment. I don't know what happened after that." Solomon answered shortly. I was surprised he told us that much.

"Speaking of Weapons, we've got to go to class." I reminded Kim and we climbed to our feet.

"What? No way!" Bex protested.

"Um, yes way. We're technically supposed to be at lunch right now." I disagreed. "We've got to get to P&E. I suppose we could change here."

"Cammie, there's no way we're letting you guys to class." Eva told me.

"You can't keep us here. We've already got a total of eleven weeks of detention and I don't really want any more." Kim argued.

"But what if you run into The Bulldozers again?" Mick asked.

"Grant, Nick, Jonas, and Thomas have our next two classes with us." Kim reminded them.

"And Zach." I added.

"Oh forget Zach, he's been useless this whole time." Anna said bitterly.

"Come on guys, he's not that bad." I defended.

"Yeah Cam, he is." Courtney disagreed.

"We are not going to talk about Cammie's choice of boyfriend right now." Macey shut down the argument.

"Yeah, we'll wait until she's gone." Tina whispered, not very quietly. I decided not to comment.

"Well no matter what, we've got to get to class. Come on Kim, we've got to change." I said nudging her arm. We left to change while the guys promised to keep a careful eye on us.

We changed as quickly as we could without making our injuries too much worse and made our way back to the common room. The boys and the rest of the Gallagher Girls were whispering when we entered. They stopped as soon as we came out. I made eye contact with Kim across the room. What had they been whispering about?

"Were you guys talking about us?" Kim asked.

"No." They answered in unison.

"I don't believe you." I added. Kim and I stood next to each other arms crossed, hip popped.

"We'll tell you later. Let's get to class." Jonas said, climbing to his feet.

We looked at them skeptically but grabbed our backpacks and change of uniforms before following them down to the gym.

P&E was easy. We ran a few miles then spent of the rest of the class period messing around. I didn't see Zach. After P&E we changed quickly before making our way down the halls to the Weapons classroom. As per the usual, all the desks were stacked in the back and mats were laid out on the floor. Mark, the teacher, was leaning against the blackboard as he waited for us to file in. As soon as the bell rang, he began.

"Line up." He said simply and we hurried to obey.

We dropped our backpacks by the front of the classroom and lined up on the mats, shoes removed. He watched us carefully as we did so, watching Kim and I closer than others.

Mark was a pretty young teacher, he couldn't have been older than 22, and he was hotter than Solomon. He hadn't told us why he was at Blackthorne instead of out in the field but there were all sorts of whispers. He took over for the old weapons teacher just a year ago. The most likely rumor as to why he was teaching was he was covering for the old teacher until he got back from a mission.

"What makes a weapon a weapon?" He asked before pointing at Peter.

"Uh...how you use it." Peter replied.

"Very good. Does your body count as a weapon?" Mark pointed at Sam this time.

"Yes." Sam replied confidently.

"Very good. We are going to work on how to hone your body, so it's a perfect weapon. Now this sort of mastery takes decades, I haven't even mastered it yet. However, now is the perfect time to start. Today we will be sparring. Pick your partners." We quickly picked partners. Kim and I chose each other to avoid too much further injury. "Now, spar."

We sparred. Sparring with Kim wasn't like sparring with Bex. I didn't know what moves she was going to pull as well, and she didn't know what moves I was going to pull either. Add in we had to have a sparring match in skirts and maneuver around other pairs of boys sparring, the class was certainly interesting.

"Ladies." Mark called from the edge of the mats.

Kim and I immediately stopped sparring and turned to look at him. I was grateful for the distraction, my injuries were killing me. He gestured for us to go over to him and we obliged.

"Yes?" Kim asked.

"Come for a walk with me." He said gesturing out to the hall. We slipped quietly out into the hall.

We walked down the hallway in silence for a while before Kim lost her patience.

"What are we doing out here?" Kim asked.

"Going for a walk." He replied.

"Why?" Kim asked again.

"To see what there is to see. I heard what happened with the three seniors earlier." He said mystically.

"Was there supposed to be a question in there?" Kim questioned.

He smiled a little. "No, it was a statement. Are you girls okay? That was the question."

"We're fine." I replied automatically.

"Are you now?" He wondered.

"Yes." Kim asserted. "Is that why you brought us out here?"

"No, I brought you out here to show you this." We turned one final corner and saw Chase, Paul, and Micah suspended from the roof.

I stifled a laugh. "The school allows you to do this?" I asked.

"As far as the school is concerned, this is a training exercise." Mark told us grinning.

Kim laughed. It was free sound, she let it fall out of her mouth as she let our enemies hanging amuse her. I let her laugh. I knew they would take out any anger on us. We would pay. For the moment, it was worth it.

"How did you manage this?" Kim asked. Mark shrugged.

"Being a teacher is great." He explained.

"Why?" I wondered.

"I have a little sister. There's no excuse for treating women that way, no matter how skilled they are in fighting." He told us as we turned and began our walk back to class.

"That's...awesome." A still grinning Kim commented.

"I'm glad you think so. You ladies can head to your last class if you like, the bell is about to ring." He told us as we drew nearer to the classroom.

"Thank you." Kim told him as she ran ahead to grab her backpack.

I slowed to a stop. He stopped with me then I looked him in the eye.

"Thank you." I told him. I made it clear that I was thanking him for more than letting us go to class early.

He nodded in response before walking towards the classroom again.

I met Kim in the hallway outside the weapons room. She had grabbed my backpack for me and escaped before our self appointed bodyguards noticed. We made our way to the science and Math hall. We each had science for the last class of the day but we had different teachers unfortunately. We got to the science classrooms just in time to see the classes that were currently in there file out.

"Science classes are done for the day!" My science teacher said as he saw Kim and I approaching. Kim's teacher coughed as they locked the doors.

It appears that an experiment went wrong. Oh well. Who was I to complain? Kim and I quickly changed course and made our way to the common room.

We entered and it was like an entirely different place. The girls had cleaned up the huge mess they had managed to make and rearranged the furniture again. They must have done some deep cleaning because the place smelled much better. They had finally turned on the rest of the lights so the space was bright. I heard water running in the background. Looks like they decided to shower. Smart.

"Hello?" Kim called out.

"Kim?" Tina called back.

"And Cammie." Kim replied.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys have one more class don't you?" Mick asked as she entered the common room, hair wet.

"We did but something happened in the science labs and our classes were canceled." I explained.

"That's fantastic. We cleaned, did you notice?" Liz asked as she entered the common room.

"We did. It looks like you guys are feeling better." I commented.

"Yeah, much. None of us are very eager to eat chicken any time soon though." Anna said as she sat next to Mick.

"Yeah believe me, neither are Cam and I." Kim said as she tossed her backpack down and removed her shoes.

"So how was class? No more run ins I hope." Mick asked.

"Nah The Bulldozers are a little...tied up at the moment." I said sending Kim into giggles.

Anna raised an eyebrow and I explained. As soon as I told them where The Bulldozers were, they laughed with us which caused the rest of the girls to come out. We waved off their questioning glances and settled onto the couches.

"Are you two playing hooky?" Macey asked as we took a seat.

"Nope, our class was canceled." I told her.

"Good." Macey said with a smile.

"Hey Cam?" Anna asked.

"Yeah?" I replied as I propped my feet up on the coffee table.

"Have you talked to Zach about earlier?" She wondered.

"No. I haven't even seen him since earlier. He disappeared." I told them.

"Oh...don't you think you ought to?" She asked kindly.

"What do you mean?" I asked gently.

"Well...it's just...don't you think he should do something?" She finally blurted out.

"It's not his problem Anna, it's mine." I said without any harsh tones in my voice. I understood her question, I had asked myself the same ones. "I can't ask him to solve all my problems. It's not fair. I have to deal with it alone."

"You're not alone Cam." Bex argued. "You've got all of us. You don't have to deal with anything alone, that's what being a Gallagher Girl means. You taught me that."

I smiled at my british friend. It was true, I spent a lot of my time convincing other Gallagher Girls that they could rely on their friends, that they weren't alone. It was a lot harder to convince myself of the same thing.

"Bex is right Cam, you and me, we're in the same boat." Kim quoted me, gripping my hand.

"It's not weak to ask for help you need it." Tina said grabbing my other hand. I laughed slightly, I had told her the same thing our eighth grade year when she fell behind in foreign languages.

"If you can't rely on yourself, rely on your sister's." Mick quoted something I told her when we first went repelling.

"You don't need to watch your back if I'm already guarding it." Anna reminded me of something I told her during our first op as partners.

"When you've forgotten how to laugh just come find me, I'll make your smile return." Eva grinned at me, making me recall how hard it was for her pull herself out of her depression.

"Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and let your instincts take care of the rest." Courtney instructed the same way I had when she first crossed a sky high bridge. "And don't be afraid to fall, I'm here to catch you."

"It's not a cry for help, it's a signal for backup." Macey told me. I'd said the same thing to her during her first year at Gallagher.

Lizzie placed a hand on my shoulder.

"With our combined courage there's nothing we can't do." She quoted what I had said to her just a few nights ago.

I couldn't help it, I broke down. I had been holding it in all day but I finally let it out. What happened with Chase and Micah, finding out about Grant, Dr. Steve's punishments, all superficial when separate but combined they threatened to crush me. With my friends surrounding me, comforting me I felt safe enough to let it out. I cried much longer than I should have but once I was done, I felt much better.

"You guys are the best." I blubbered as I rested my head on Tina's shoulder. We all laughed. I took a deep cleansing breath then climbed to my feet. "I'm going to get out of this uniform and clean my face."

"Great idea." Kim said climbing to her feet behind me.

"Ooo, let me pick out what to wear." Bex called as she followed me into our corridor.

"I want to re-do her makeup!" Macey dibsed makeup duty.

"Can I braid her hair?" Liz asked as she closed the door behind us.

"Only if you go get the iPod first." Bex told her.

Liz sighed and turned to the door, only to be stopped by Macey.

"Don't bother, I snuck off and bought us one too." Macey pulled a second iPod out of her trunk.

"Macey!" Liz scolded.

"Oh relax, I used my own card." Macey said waving off her concern as she blasted Taylor Swift through our corridor. "Go on Cam, we'll set up out here."

I hurried and washed my face to remove my incredibly smeared makeup and to help get rid of the redness around my eyes. I left the bathroom a few minutes later to find Bex grinning next to a pile of clothes on my bed.

"I figured you may appreciate pants." Bex explained as I surveyed the outfit.

She laid out a pair of (incredibly comfortable) black skinny jeans, a grey (also incredibly comfortable) t-shirt, my black leather jacket, and maroon scarf I had no memory of buying.

"Uh Bex, where'd you get the scarf?" I asked.

"Oh it's mine, it would look perfect with this outfit so I laid it out for you." She explained. I wrapped her in a hug.

"Thanks." I said with a smile. She grinned back at me and pushed me to get dressed. I undid the buttons on my blouse and threw it into a laundry basket. Bex stopped me before I could pull on the shirt.

"Cam, that bruise is monstrous." Bex told me, fingering the bruise left by Micah.

"Yeah, no joke. I didn't realize it was that big." I said honestly as I examined the bruise.

"We'll have to keep an eye on that thing, it's nasty." She said as she finally pulled away. I nodded in agreement.

I pulled on the jeans that were made of the softest fabric of the world, the flowy t-shirt, and left the scarf and jacket to put on after my hair and makeup were done.

"Come here Cam." Macey said patting the chair she had appropriated to use as a makeup chair.

I sat in the squishy chair and relaxed as Macey gently applied concealer to the cut and bruise on my cheekbone. She then lined my eyes with a black pencil and applied a little blush over the fresh concealer. Mascara went on next then a small amount of chapstick.

"Done." Macey announced.

"That's it?" I asked baffled.

"Yeah, you like the natural look." Macey reminded me.

"Well yeah because that's all I can do. You're an artist with makeup, go all out!" I exclaimed.

"Seriously? You're giving me permission to go all out?" Macey asked, baffled.

"Yeah!" I said with a grin. I'd come to love what Macey had done with my makeup.

"Well okay then, close your eyes." Macey began again.

This time she added beautiful smokey eyeshadow, slightly red lips, gentle eyebrow detail and she deepened the black of the eyeliner and mascara. She did it quickly and masterfully.

"Wow, thanks Macey." I said gratefully as I examined what she had done. It had all blended together seamlessly. It looked incredible and still rather natural even though it obviously wasn't.

"Anytime." Macey was positively beaming.

"My turn?" Liz asked from where she sat with her computer.

"Yep!" Macey replied as she packed up the makeup.

"Finally." Liz shut her laptop and jumped off her bed, running to the chair. "Don't move."

I obeyed her orders as she brushed my hair until it was silky smooth. She braided the front pieces of my hair back but still left a few pieces hanging messily down to frame my face. Then she pulled my hair into a high ponytail on the top of my head before curling the body of it. It looked incredible with Macey's makeup.

"Liz, it looks awesome!" I told her as I examined her updo.

"Thanks!" Liz accepted the compliment graciously.

"Now for the finishing touches." Bex said as she slid the scarf gently around my neck.

I adjusted the scarf and slid on the jacket and after a moment's thought, I put on the Gallagher locket. I examined my ensemble carefully before turning to face my best friends.

"Now let's get you guys ready." I said with a grin.

We set to work. Bex went through and picked out clothes for everyone to wear while Macey organized the makeup. Lizzie set out the hair tools and after Bex had set out the outfits, I found accessories that matched.

Macey did makeup while Lizzie worked on Bex's hair, both of them working on her at once. It was rather entertaining to watch seeing as Bex has a hard time sitting still. Eventually Bex was ready and Macey was doing her own makeup while Liz did her hair. Liz then worked on her own hair while Macey got dressed then Mace did her makeup. Soon enough we were all dressed and ready to go. Except for shoes, we would get those later.

We padded out into the common room to see the rest of the girls lounging around with their guys. Mick was doing something with Thomas while Anna and Courtney were with Sam and Jake a few feet away. Tina and Eva were sitting with Kim playing some card game while Grant, Jonas, and Nick lay in the center of the room looking bored out of their minds.

"Finally!" Nick exclaimed as we appeared.

"Hey guys, how long have you been here?" Bex asked as Grant ran up and kissed her.

"Like twenty minutes, they wouldn't let us bug you." Grant replied.

"You've been here since school ended?" I asked, surprised.

"Don't sounds so surprised, it's not like we had a bunch of other places to be." Jonas said as he wrapped an arm around Liz.

"Really? I thought you would've found The Bulldozers by now." I teased as I went to sit with Tina, Eva, and Kim.

"What about The Bulldozers?" Grant asked curiously.

"Oh nothing, other than the fact that they've been suspended like pinatas for about three hours now." Kim said nonchalantly.

"You guys look incredible." Tina told us.

"Thanks Tina!" I said graciously.

"Wait seriously? Come on guys, we're going to find a bat." Grant said grabbing Nick and Jonas.

"Whoa there buckaroo, it's been three hours. I assume they're down by now." I said jumping in front of Grant.

"But what if they're still up there and I'm missing precious hitting time?" Grant questioned.

"Then I'll apologize. You waited this long to spend time with Bex, go hang out with her." I told him.

"Hey Macey, how willing would you be to do my makeup?" Mick asked from across the room.

"Ooo, mine too." Tina added.

"And mine!" Eva said raising her hand.

"Is this a thing? I want in." Kim said raising her hand.

"Anna and I do too." Courtney added, running out of their corridor. "Help with our hair would be nice too."

"I would love to help but you're gonna need Lizzie to help with hair." Macey told them.

"I'd love to help!" Liz exclaimed.

"I'm making it official, SPA DAY!" Tina exclaimed throwing her cards down. "Let's get the vanities out here and get to work! I've had a long day of being sick and I don't want anyone to be able to see that!"

I laughed as the girls scrambled to get everything set up. I love my sisters.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me. We have literally been waiting here for twenty minutes, how long do you think this will take?" Nick asked Macey.

Macey shrugged. "A couple hours. We should be done by dinner."

"Is she serious?" Nick asked me as Macey went to go collect makeup.

"Unfortunately, yes." I informed him and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Well what am I supposed to do for the next few hours? There's not exactly much to do in our dorm room and I've already finished my homework." He asked me and I shrugged.

"What do you like to do?" I asked.

"Not much." He admitted.

"He's a great artist." Jonas yelled from where he had picked up his laptop.

"Draw something." I suggested.

"All my supplies were confiscated a few days ago, I don't have anything to draw on." He complained.

"You can play cards with me, Sam, and Jake." Thomas offered.

"Thanks but no thanks, I'd rather not go broke." Nick replied.

Thomas shrugged and turned to his friends.

I had a sudden stroke of genius.

"Hey Lizzie, do you still have those markers?" I called to Liz.

"Yeah, they're still in my messenger bag if you want to grab them." She replied.

"You any good at drawing on people?" I asked Nick.

"You offering?" He asked teasingly.

"Yep." I replied seriously.

"You serious?" He asked, perking up a little.

"Yeah, Liz has got some epic markers and I've got an incredible skill at staying still." I said with a smile.

"She's serious, no one can stay still like the Chameleon." Anna told Nick as she walked by.

"You're serious." Nick realized.

"Absolutely. You down?" I asked.

"Heck yes, go get those markers." He said with a grin. I obliged.

I came out and saw Nick sitting on the couch out of the way. I went over and handed him the markers.

"Okay Miss Cammie, where can I draw?" He asked rubbing his hands together in excitement.

"Um...legs and feet for now." I decided.

"Can I roll up your pant legs?" He asked.

"Go for it."

"Sweet." He rolled up one leg when the Taylor Swift started playing in the background. "Ah just what I needed, mood music."

I laughed at the tone of his voice. He was a funny guy. He smiled at me before positioning my foot on his lap.

"Okay, are you comfortable? You might be here a while." Nick asked.

I layed back on the couch and put a pillow under my head so it was propped up enough for me to see what he was doing.

"Okay, I'm good. Go for it." I said and he set to work.

It's a really good thing that I'm good at sitting still because Nick drew for a looooong time. Hours. I'm not kidding, the entire time the girls were doing each others hair and makeup Nick was drawing on my leg and foot. I managed to see what he did on the top of my foot but soon he adjusted my leg so I had no idea what he was drawing on my leg. I mean sure I could feel the markers moving along my leg but I didn't know what it looked like.

To occupy the time I sang along to the music, listened to my sisters conversations, studied Nick's expression (it didn't change much though, he was really focused), and unfortunately I still had a lot of time to think. I thought the most about Blackthorne so far and everything that has come with it. Zach, Grant, The Bulldozers, Dr. Excellent, and every event that surrounded them.

Luckily for me, when my sisters were done with their hair and makeup they came to talk to me. Unluckily their chosen topics sucked.

"So Cammie, you really haven't seen the beast since lunch today?" Eva asked when she was done.

"Bex says you have a wicked bruise, can I see?" Was Mick's question.

I told her I would show her later.

Anna, Kim, and Courtney all asked about the Bulldozers, Tina asked about Zach, as did Thomas, Jake, and Sam. I didn't directly answer their questions because I didn't have an answer. Meanwhile, Nick seemed to have a super power of detecting when I was uncomfortable because every time I began searching for a way out of conversation he just told them they were distracting him and they left. I decided Nick was perfect for Macey.

"Hey Nick." I said offhandedly when he was switching markers.

"Wassup?" He asked distractedly.

"What do you think of Macey?" I asked and he jerked his head up.

"Macey? As in Macey McHenry? Why? Has she asked about me?" He asked a rapid round of questions.

"I'm just curious. You like her don't you?" I already knew the answer. I grinned when his face colored slightly.

"Well, yeah, sure, I mean, everyone likes Macey she's a blast and she's a lot of fun, and-" He said floundering for a response that wouldn't make it sound like he was in love with her.

"You basically just said the same thing twice, and that's not what I meant. Do you like like Macey?" I rephrased my question as I had for Jonas.

He looked to make sure Macey wasn't looking over his shoulder before looking into my eyes and breaking into a grin. He nodded once and his grin grew wider. He put a hand half over his mouth to hide it.

"Yeah, I really like Macey." He said aloud.

"Good. Ask her out." I told him.

"Whoa hold on a second, are you sure? Cause we haven't known each other very long and what if she-" I cut off his rambling.

"Yes I'm sure. Trust me, this is a great idea." I reassured him.

"You're absolutely sure this isn't a creep move?" He clarified.

"Absolutely." I said as I leaned back on the pillow and left him to his thoughts.

After a second's hesitation he returned to his drawing with just as much concentration as before, but I knew I got him thinking.

A few hours later, makeup was done and so was the drawing.

"Okay Nick, sorry to keep you waiting we're finally done." Macey announced as she looked over the back of the couch. "Whoa, that looks cool."

"I wanna see!" I whined.

"I'm almost done!" Nick told me. "Be patient."

"I thought I was being patient." I said as I tried not to squirm.

"You are being patient. Very patient. Now just do it a little while longer." Nick said kindly.

Macey watched over his shoulder for the next few minutes while he finished the drawing. I remained perfectly still. Just before Nick finished, he dropped a bombshell on Macey.

"So Macey, wanna go out sometime?" He asked. Macey looked like she'd just been slapped. She quickly recovered.

"Sure." She said nonchalantly but I knew she was freaking out inside.

"Cool. I'm done Cam." He told me, capping his marker. Nice timing.

I sat up and stared at the intricate design that circled my leg. It started on my big toe before going down my foot and growing larger. It circled my ankle before covering my entire calf. There was every color of the rainbow, swirls, dots, patterns, lines. All simple on their own but spectacular together.

"Whoa." I said breathless. "This is so cool!"

"I'll take that as a compliment." Nick said with a smile.

"It's totally a compliment, this is incredible!" I said gesturing to my leg.

"Thank you." He said graciously.

"No, thank you. Seriously, consider me your canvas whenever you need one." I told him, genuinely excited to see what else he could do.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said with a wink before turning to Macey. "So you wanna hang out until dinner?"

"Sounds great. I'll meet you guys there, Cam." She told me before grabbing his hand and dragging him somewhere.

I went to go show everyone else what Nick had done.

"Hey Cam. Whoa, your leg looks cool." Bex said as I went to sit by her and Grant.

"Thanks. Nick did it." I told her as Grant's head popped over the edge of the couch.

"You let Nick draw on you?" Grant asked.

"Yeah. It was a lot of fun actually." I informed him.

Grant nodded. "Nick's a great guy. Where did he and Macey go anyway?"

"Don't know. Mace said she'd meet us at dinner." I said as the other Gallagher Girls gathered to look at my leg.

"Cam that's seriously intense." Mick commented.

"I know." I replied with a grin.

"I honestly don't know how you sat still so long." Anna said staring at the masterpiece.

"It's a talent." I said cheekily.

"So Macey and Nick huh?" Sam asked as the guys joined the conversation.

"Yeah." Bex and I shared a smile.

"'Bout time. He's been staring at her long enough." Jake joked.

"We agree." Courtney and Kim said in unison.

"I can't believe how long it took you guys to do makeup. Do you really do this every day?" Thomas asked.

"No, we usually do our own hair and makeup but we do essentially the same thing." Tina explained.

"That's insane." Jonas called from across the room. Liz was curled around her laptop and Jonas was curled around her. It was adorable.

"What are you guys working on over there, Jo?" Grant asked.

"A new program that will hopefully let you guys know how you can hit better." Liz replied.

"Is that the same thing you were working on this summer?" Bex asked. I shuddered.

Liz paused a beat before responding. "Yeah."

"Hey Cam, what do the sanskrit names on our tags mean?" Mick asked, fingering her dog tags.

"Aww you guys got dog tags?" Thomas asked, reaching forward to look at hers.

"Yeah we ordered them. Well Mick, your name means warrior." I told her.

"Really. I would've thought Bex's was warrior." Mick said surprised.

"Bex's is rage." I told them with a smile. Bex grimaced goodnaturedly.

"What about mine?" Tina asked.

"And mine?" Eva echoed.

Soon every girl wanted to know what theirs meant.

"Okay, okay. Tina's means laughter, or the comic. Eva's means love, Courtney's is desire, Kim's is fear as in fear me, and Anna's is truth." I told them quickly listing them off.

"What about you guys'?" Grant asked.

"Well, Bex is rage as you know. Macey is wealth, Liz is surprise and-" Bex cut me off.

"Cammie is compassion." Bex said with a grin.

Sam nodded. "Fitting. All of them."

"Macey was the one who came up with them, but she was dead on." Tina told them.

"Hey girls, can you help us with something?" Liz called.

"Guys, we might need you too." Jonas added.

"What's up Lizzie?" Courtney asked.

"We need to hack into a site and need some backup. Go grab your laptops." Liz instructed and we jumped to go grab them.

We came back in and settled in a circle. All the guys had disappeared, presumably to get their laptops. We hooked ourselves up Liz's wireless network while we waited. They returned a few minutes later, Macey and Nick accompanying them.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We thought you might like an extra hand." Macey said as she disappeared to get her laptop.

We finished hooking people up to the wireless network while Liz and Jonas discussed who was going to do what.

"Sam's good at cleanup." Jonas told her.

"So is Anna. We'll stick them together. Courtney is really good at sweeping."

"Jake is too. They'll team up." Jonas informed Liz.

"Let's stick Cammie and Bex in front." Liz suggested.

"Let's put Grant with them. He's gotten really good and sneaking around." Jonas suggested and Liz agreed.

"That leaves Tina, Kim, Eva, Mick, Macey, Thomas, and Nick." Liz told him.

"Okay well Nick's still pretty new." Jonas reminded Liz.

"Let's put Nick on trip wires with Macey and Tina for backup." Liz suggested.

"Okay, Eva, Thomas, Kim, and Mick can keep look out. We're gonna need that many people, there's a lot of angles." Jonas suggested.

"Then we're on retrieval with Anna." Liz clarified.

"Yes. I hope you guys all heard that because I am not repeating it." Jonas announced.

"Let's get to work." Liz called as soon as we confirmed our positions.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Macey stopped everyone in their tracks. "I think you know what I'm about to say."

"I have no idea." Liz said already figured out what to do on her computer.

"Oh come on Liz, it's obvious. What are we going to call this?" Bex commented.

Liz dropped her head down into her hands and groaned.

"It's a legitimate question!" I defended.

"You three are going to be the death of me." Liz told us. "We'll call it Adya."

"We called the last one Adya." Anna reminded her.

"FINE! We'll call it...I'm out of sanskrit words at the moment." Liz shook her head.

"Vira?" Bex suggested.

"Anantha?" Macey added.

"A-dharma?" I mused.

"I like A-dharma." Bex said with a grin.

"You want to call it 'Evil'?" Macey asked.

"Fine. Shuudrah?" Bex offered a replacement.

"Jnaana?" Macey tried.

"Gothra?" I hoped this one would stick.

"Gothra is perfect." Liz announced, shutting down the suggestions.

"Hold a second, what does Gothra mean?" Jonas asked.

"Family." Liz told him with a wry grin.

Jonas laughed. "Ironic."

"Can we do this? I want to be done by dinner." Tina interrupted.

"Yes! Fine. Follow me guys." Liz stated and we dove into the wonderful world of electronics.

Now leading was basically the suckiest job in the world when it comes to hacking. Especially when you don't know exactly what you're looking for. You have to sort through tons and tons of binary code and commands and hope you wander into something useful. Liz occasionally gave instructions to try and help us figure out where we were going unfortunately they wouldn't tell us what we were looking for. About a half an hour into our wandering, I got a message from Liz.

'We're looking for anything on you and Grant. Hope this helps.' It read.

It certainly did help. Within minutes Bex and I had finished figuring out the patterns in the site which made moving around easier and with a goal in mind it was easier to dismiss useless code. This does not mean we immediately found a file labeled 'Grant and Cameron Morgan' it just means it was easier. It was still extremely difficult. Just when I was about to give up, they found something.

"Cammie go back." Liz called without explanation. I went back.

"Continue down this path." Jonas instructed. I did.

"Got it. Get out." Liz told me a few minutes later. We all fled the site while Sam and Anna cleaned up.

Moments passed while Jonas and Liz sorted through the information. We waited anxiously, some more than others, before they finally told us what they had found.

"It was a bust guys. They didn't have what we thought they did." Jonas told us sadly.

"Maybe we'll find it someplace else. Sorry to waste your time." Liz said in the same tone.

"It's not your fault." Courtney told them. "We'll give it another go some other day. Until then, it's time for dinner."

Everyone started cleaning up their stuff and putting away their laptops. I climbed to my feet and trudged to our corridor. I bent down to plug in my laptop when an alert went off. I had just received an email from Liz.

With an information file.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long! I'll try to update more often**

Chapter 10

"Cammie, come on." Macey called. I looked back at my computer woefully.

"Come on, we can look at it later." Liz said softly pulling me to my feet.

I climbed to my feet after them and we wandered down to the grand hall with the rest of the Gallagher Girls. We quickly sped through the halls and I tried my best not to run and hide when everyone looked at us. Looks like everyone heard what happened. We tried to keep our heads high as we made our way to our seats but Kim slipped her hand into mine anyway.

We tried to speed walk to our table but, as usual, Zach stopped me.

"Cammie, why didn't you tell me what happened?" He asked.

"I did. At least I tried, you left before Kim finished explaining what happened." I reminded him.

"You should've told me." He argued.

"I tried." I hissed. He grabbed my arm.

"I want to hear what really happened later." He told me quietly. He let go of my arm and turned around. I could take a hint, I went to catch up with the girls.

"Cammie, did he seriously just yell at you for not telling him?" Eva asked when I reached the table.

"He didn't yell." I told them.

"Right that would've attracted too much attention." Mick said rolling her eyes.

"How did you guys know what we were talking about anyway?" I thought they were all in front of me.

"Kim overheard and told." Eva explained. I shot Kim a look. She shrugged.

"What do you guys have against Zach?" I asked.

"The beast? He's bad news Cam. We just don't want anything to happen to you. The guys here...they've told us thing about him." Mick replied.

"Well they don't know everything do they?" I snapped. I took a deep breath when I heard how angry I sounded. "Sorry guys, thanks for looking out for me but Zach isn't the one that's been putting me in the infirmary."

"We know Cam we're just...worried about you." Eva told me.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. But I can handle Zach. Can we get food?" I tried to changed the subject.

"Absolutely." Bex replied jumping to her feet.

The mood shifted as we all climbed to our feet and made our way to the food. We laughed and chatted as we waited in line. We finally reached the food and were piling it on to our plates when I felt someone touch my hair.

I whirled around expecting it to be Chase and was totally prepared to send him to the infirmary but it was just Zach. My heart rate slowed as I realized it was him and I smiled when he winked at me.

I couldn't get that encounter out of my mind all through dinner. I _knew_ it was Zach. I had seen him coming and had even heard him. Why did I react like that? Why did I think it was Chase? Was I permanently screwed up now? Would Zach even still want to date me if he found out I thought he was my tormentor?

I tried to listen to the other girls conversations, I really did but I just couldn't focus. I alternated between thinking about the bulldozers and keeping a paranoid watch for them. They appeared in the grand hall a few minutes after we sat down with our food. I kept an eye on them all night but they didn't so much as glance in our direction. They left fifteen minutes before we did but I kept watching the door just in case they decided to come back.

"Good evening ladies." Solomon greeted us as he walked up to our table.

"Good evening Mr. Solomon." We intoned politely.

"I hope you are all enjoying your dinner, you all look lovely. Miss Lee, Miss Morgan. The headmistress is on the phone and would like to speak with you." He informed us and gestured for us to follow him. We did.

He took us down to his office and made sure to lock the door before hitting the conference button on the phone.

"Cammie?" My mom's anxious voice came through the speaker. "Kim? Are you girls alright?"

"Yes, we're fine." Kim replied for us.

"What happened?" She asked.

Kim retold the story again, the shorter version this time. When she was finished it was silent on the other line. We waited anxiously for a response.

"Joe." My mom's voice was firm. "If this happens again, I want it brought to the headmasters attention. This is absolutely unacceptable."

"I agree. I will do so." Solomon told her.

"Girls, if this happens again, anything of the sort, you are to tell Mr. Solomon." She instructed.

"Yes Headmistress." Kim and I intoned.

"You girls should probably get to bed. You've had a long day." Solomon said unlocking the door. "Goodnight ladies."

"Goodnight Mr. Solomon. Goodnight mom." I said as I left the room, Kim echoing my goodbyes and following after.

"Are you as exhausted as I am?" Kim asked as we made our way to our dorms.

I nodded in agreement. We hadn't slept in two days and one of them was spent avoiding attacks all day long. We wandered sleepily down the halls when suddenly Kim jumped.

"Did you hear that?" She asked. I shook my head.

I heard it the next time. A laugh, quiet but it sounded just like Micah. He wouldn't attack us so soon after the last attack, would he? The laugh came again, a little louder this time. He was gaining on us, and he probably wasn't alone.

I looked at Kim, wide eyed and on an unseen signal we sprinted the rest of the way to the dorms, hurrying to get away. We reached the dorm hearts beating and chests heaving. Of course, there was someone waiting for me at the door.

"Gallagher Girl." Zach said by way of greeting.

"Hi Beast." Kim replied.

"Go away Kim." Zach said shortly and Kim raised her eyebrows.

"So he does know my name." Kim said sourly before entering the common room, closing the door behind her.

"What do you want Zach?" I asked tiredly.

"I want to know why you didn't tell me what happened yourself." He accused.

"I tried, you left remember?" I told him, fighting the urge to rub my eyes.

"No Cammie, I want to know why you didn't come looking for me after it happened. I want to know why I had to listen to Kim ramble on for five minutes about nothing before going to ask around to find out the truth from somebody else. I want to know why my girlfriend didn't bother to tell me what was going on." He practically spit at me. I snapped.

"You know what Zach? I want to know why my boyfriend's best friends came looking for me when he didn't. I want to know where you've been during the past three attacks!" I yelled at him.

He snorted. "Attacks? Cammie, don't over exaggerate. Those were hardly attacks."

"What? Are you joking?" I asked incredulously.

"I told you Gallagher Girl, my school is rough. This is just how things are. It's normal." We heard a bang come from the other side of the door. Zach gave me one last look before turning on his heel and walking away.

I finally gave in and rubbed my eyes before opening the door and scattering the Gallagher Girls that had been gathered behind it to hear our conversation.

"You guys hear all you wanted to?" I asked sarcastically.

"Cammie, how could he say that to you?" Eva asked.

"I don't know Eva. Maybe he was just saying it because he knew you were all listening in." I suggested as I made my way to my corridor.

"Be careful Cam." Mick called as I shut the door behind me.

I heaved a sigh as I pressed my back against the door. I looked around the room and saw that Bex, Macey, and Liz were all waiting for me expectantly.

"I get the feeling you guys want to see what's in the information file." I stated.

"You would be correct. But we want to go through it with the guys. We were waiting for you to get here so we could go down to the boys room." Bex explained.

"Cool, let's go." I said as I scooped up my laptop. I was just as eager as they were to see what was in the file. One problem at a time.

The girls quickly followed my example and picked up their laptops. We told the other girls we were going to see the guys and began our walk to their room. We laughed and chatted as we made our way to the boy's room but I stopped dead when I saw Micah and Chase appear. They ignored my presence but I couldn't keep my eyes away from them. I was terrified of what they might do. This afternoon had really shaken me. Bex, Macey, and Liz stood beside me as we waited to see what they would do.

Chase smiled and bumped into me slightly. Not enough to make me move but enough for me to feel him slip something into my pocket.

"Apologies Miss Morgan." He said with a charming grin that seemed just a touch evil.

They continued on their way and so did we. I didn't want to see what he had put in my pocket and I didn't want the girls to know that he had slipped me something either. I would look at it later. We picked up our pace a little as we neared the boy's dorm. We reached the door and Bex rapped on the wood twice.

Grant hurried pulled the door open and herded us inside. Macey went to sit by Nick under his bed at the desk, Liz took a seat next to Jonas, Bex and Grant sat on his bed, and I sat on the floor leaning against Grant's bed. We all knew why we were here.

"Okay. Grant, Cam, you guys got the file right?" Jonas asked. We nodded. "Cool how do you guys want to do this?"

"Um...I don't know. Cam?" Grant said.

"I guess we could just open the file and scan it for any pertinent information…?" I suggested.

"Sounds good." Liz agreed and pulled open her laptop. The rest of us followed suit.

I opened the email from Liz and my mouse hovered over the file. I wanted to click it but I hesitated...I was nervous. Grant nudged me with his foot. I looked up at him and he smiled encouragingly.

'On three.' He mouthed to me. I nodded. 'One...two...three."

I clicked the moment he mouthed three and turned to see a report fill my screen. I scanned it quickly.

Date: December 18, 2006

Agents: Rachel and Matthew Morgan

Synopsis: Reassignment of Morgan, Grant.

Narrative:

On this date, December the 18, 2006, Agents Morgan and Morgan have been ordered to reassign their son (Morgan, Grant) to a safe house. Protection shall be issued to Morgan, Grant. Agents will be assigned to keep watch over Morgan, Grant. Morgan, Grant will be watched until the family's delta red status is revoked. Possible reassignment of Morgan, Cameron will be considered.

End report.

"Are you freaking serious?" I asked aloud. "That's the end of the report? What happened to 'all reports need to include every detail and specifications'? That report said nothing!"

"It did say something. We now know that mom and dad didn't want to give me up. They had to, they almost had to give you up too. It tells us that we were all in danger, we were under delta red! Whatever that means…" Grant trailed off.

"Delta red is bad news...it means something incredibly serious was going on. It means that something happened on one of your parents missions and you were under investigation by some super bad people." Jonas explained.

"If only it said who…" Macey grumbled.

"Do you guys think you could figure out what was going on?" Bex asked Liz and Jonas. They nodded.

"Probably, there should be a case file on it somewhere." Liz told us.

"Thanks you guys...we know you don't have to do this." Grant told them.

"It's no problem." Jonas said waving off his gratitude.

"Seriously though...we really appreciate it." I added to Grant's statement.

"You guys deserve to know the truth." Liz said with conviction. "We'll help you find it."

"You guys are the best." Grant and I said in unison.

We all started laughing when Grant and I gave each other accusatory looks. Of course that's when Zach decided to burst into the room. His eyes narrowed when he saw that I was there. I guess he was still mad at me.

"Hey Zach, where've you been?" Nick asked between giggles.

"Oh come on don't you know better than to ask that by now?" Grant teased.

"He's never gonna say." Jonas added.

"For your information, I was in the gym. I came back to grab my good running shoes. I'll see you guys later." Zach said with another significant look at me before leaving the room once more.

"Yikes. What was that about? Trouble in paradise?" Grant asked.

"He's mad at me for not telling him what happened with the Bulldozers." I told them.

"Seriously? He's mad at you for not telling him when you tried to tell him and he left?" Jonas asked.

"Yeah. He said I should've sought him out the second after it happened and told him in extreme detail what happened." I said rolling my eyes. I left out the part where he said they weren't attacks.

"Wow. I'm not an expert on women but to me that sounds like a no-no when it comes to your girlfriend." Jonas commented.

"You would be correct." Liz informed him.

"So what are you going to do?" Bex asked.

"I have no idea." I told them, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. "Try to talk to him and apologize I guess."

"If he even talks to you." Liz added.

"Yeah...if he even talks to me." I agreed.

"What makes you think he won't talk to you?" Nick asked.

"Are you kidding? Did you see his face when he left? Did you see the glares he shot at her? He is not happy at all. We'll be lucky if he talks to her before the week is out." Macey informed him.

"I bet he talks to her by the end of tomorrow without her having to seek him out." Nick argued.

"I'll take that bet." Macey said, straightening.

"Okay, what's the bet?" Nick asked.

"Loser has to come up with the date." Macey decided.

"You're on." Nick said and they shook hands.

"You are our witnesses." Macey said looking at each of is in turn.

"Don't worry Mace, we'll make sure he holds up his end of the bargain." Liz teased.

"I don't know how I feel about my relationship being the source of a bet." I commented.

"Just roll with it, Cam." Grant told me, moving his hand in a wave like motion.

"Alright." I said leaning against the bed once more.

Liz let out a huge yawn and I followed suit causing Macey and Bex to yawn as well.

"I think it's time you girls got to bed." Jonas said kindly. "You've had a long days, all of you."

"Yeah, come on. We'll walk you back to your room." Nick said climbing to his feet and reaching to help Macey up as well.

"WAIT!" I yelled, Nick freezing just before grabbing Macey's hand. I turned to Grant. "Solomon lied to us. He said he came back from his mission and I was a few months old. This says we were eight when the reassignment happened. So unless it was an eight year mission…"

"He knows something." Grant agreed.

"But he looked so shocked when we told him." I said confused.

"Probably shocked that you guys found out." Jonas suggested. Liz yawned again. "You guys can talk to Solomon again tomorrow and then we'll discuss it more. Now, you've really got to get to bed, Liz is about to pass out."

Grant helped Bex and I to our feet as Jonas grabbed Liz's hand and walked out the door with Macey and Nick close behind. I let Bex and Grant go ahead of me and took the opportunity to see what Chase had slipped in my pocket. It was a note.

 _Sleep tight, my girlie :*_

I shuddered and crumpled the note. I would throw it away when we got back to our room. I didn't want to think about Chase right now. I shoved the crumpled note back into my pocket and hurried to catch up with the others, hoping with everything that I had that we wouldn't run into Chase, Micah, or Paul on the way back to our room.

Luckily we made it to our room without incident. The girls bid their guys goodnight while I hurried straight to our room and began getting ready for bed. I was excited to get to bed as I hadn't slept the night before. I quickly removed my makeup and brushed my hair and teeth before crossing out of the bathroom and slipping on my pajamas. I threw Chase's note away then jumped under the covers and fell into a blissful sleep.

I jerked awake, chest heaving. I looked around my corridor wildly, forgetting where I was for a moment. When reason set in again, I calmed my breathing and my heart rate. A creek came from the common room. I froze. I swore I heard a voice that sounded just like Chase and I ran to see who was there. I flipped on the light and saw no one. I guess I was just being paranoid.

Well there was absolutely no chance of me falling back asleep now. I slipped on a pair of socks and opened the common room door, sliding into the hall. I should've probably woken up Bex to go with me, but I wanted to let her sleep. I wandered around the halls aimlessly. I took the opportunity to look for more secret passageways but that quickly lost it's novelty. There weren't very many.

I did find one cool one though, it ran from the grand hall to the gym. I exited that passageway then froze as I realized that there was someone in the gym. I slid forward silently, peering quietly around the corner as I looked to see who was there.

It was the Weapons teacher, Mark. He was working out, pummeling a punching bag. Who worked out at two o'clock in the morning? I turned to let him continue his work out when he heard me.

"Who's there?" He called. I decided I better reveal myself.

"It's just me." I stepped into the light. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

I suddenly felt very self-conscious there in my pajamas. I was wearing short black sleeping shorts with a black tank top reading 'Stay up all night' that was long in the back but didn't quite cover my stomach in the front. I uncomfortably folded my arms.

"No need to apologize, you didn't interrupt anything." He told me, reaching for his water bottle.

"Oh." I stood there waiting for him to say something, anything.

"That's a nasty looking cut." He told me, pointing to my cheek.

"I've had worse." I said off handedly.

"Yeah. I'm sure you have." We waited in silence for a moment and he continued. "I'm sorry you had to go through what you did Cammie. It isn't fair."

"Life isn't fair. Anyone who says differently is selling something." I quoted one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride.

"Very true." He laughed a little. "You know, I taught those boys. I know what they're capable of better than anyone else. I could help you learn some moves that would better help you defend against them."

"Seriously?" I perked up a little bit.

"Yeah, of course. Anytime you like." He offered.

"Now?" I asked.

He chuckled. "Sure. But are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep?"

"I don't think I'm going to be getting much sleep tonight." I told him as I pulled my socks off. He nodded in understanding before gesturing for me to join him.

"Well then let's get started." He stated, reaching for cotton hand wraps.

We worked for hours. He taught me some really complex defensive moves that wouldn't be taught at Gallagher until the last semester of your senior year. We worked on the defensive moves I already knew too, he helped me improve them and showed me how to counter attack some of Blackthorne's favorite moves. Around 5:30 we finally decided that we had done enough for one night and split off to get ready for the day. I waved goodbye to him as I left the gym and hurried silently back to my room.

I slipped into the common room and locked the door behind me, not that it would do much good if anyone really wanted to get in. I tried not to wake anyone up when I climbed back into bed and tried to get a little more sleep before the day started but Bex heard me.

"Cam?" Bex asked.

"Yeah?" I replied quietly.

"Where were you?" She asked.

"In the gym working with the weapons teacher. I'll tell you about it later, go back to sleep." I told her.

"Are you okay?" She wondered.

"Yeah, I'm great actually. Night." I yawned as I laid back on my pillow.

"Night Cam." She said and we both nodded off.

We woke up about an hour later, Liz shaking us all awake. Thank the stars it was Friday. Hopefully I could convince the others to sleep in tomorrow, my sleep debt was getting bigger and bigger. We all hurried to get ready, packing up now completed homework assignments before running down to the grand hall for breakfast. We were about to go to class when I remembered a homework assignment for history I had left on my dresser. I told Liz I would meet her in our first class before running up to our room to grab it.

I yanked open the door to the common room and pushed open the door to our corridor then stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Zach sitting on my bed, looking at something.

"Zach? What are you doing in here?" I asked warily. He held up the note Chase had slipped into my pocket the night before.

"What's this?" He asked coldly.

"The note Chase slipped into my pocket last night." I told him.

"Wow...I really expected more from you Cammie." He said as he stood up.

" _What?_ " I asked incredulously.

"I mean, we have one tiny fight and you run off to some other guy." He exclaimed.

"You think I'm _cheating on you_ with _Chase_? The guy that put me in the _infirmary_?"

"No Cammie, he didn't put you in the infirmary, Micah did! He's been bragging about it all day, just like Chase has been bragging that he _kissed_ you! When were you going to tell me about that, huh?" He yelled.

"Maybe when you asked about it!" I exploded back at him. "What gives you the right-"

"I have every right! First you slink around not telling me anything, then you make out with one of my best friends-!"

"I am not the one that's been slinking around, _you_ are! Make out with Chase? Are you _insane_? He was holding me against the ground and he kissed me, I couldn't stop him!" I retorted.

"You don't seem like you wanted to!" He yelled once more.

I was hysteric. "I wanted nothing more in the world to get him off of me in that moment. Nothing. If I had the power to stop him, I would have."

"Oh come on Cammie-" I wasn't finished. I yelled over his protests.

"I kept wishing that someone, anyone, would appear and make him stop but no one did. I was alone. Meanwhile you've been galavanting about with the very same guys that have sent me to the infirmary twice in the past week. You haven't been around Zach, not at all. You have no right at all to make judgement calls about what's been happening."

He spun around and punched the wall, leaving a nice sized hole.

"I can't be around all the time Cammie! I can't just drop my life to spend every second with you. You need to learn how to be alone."

"Get out." I told him suddenly, deadly calm.

"What?" He asked loudly.

"Apparently I need to learn how to be alone. GET. OUT!" I exclaimed pointing to the door.

He crumpled the note and threw it at me on his way out the door.

I wanted nothing more than to collapse into a ball and cry but unfortunately, I had classes. I took a deep steadying breath to calm myself before shoving my homework into my backpack and hurrying out into the halls. I froze when I saw Chase leaning on the wall opposite the door. My freeze was only a second, however. I kept walking. He followed me.

"That was some fight girlie." Chase said as he hurried to keep pace.

"Leave me alone." I said through gritted teeth.

"Sure glad he punched the wall and not you" He continued. The girls area was sound proof, there's no way he could've known that unless...he was in the common room.

"I wish he would punch you." I mumbled.

"Oh come on now girlie." He fingered my hair and I jerked away. "Your boyfriend and I are friends...he'd never hurt me."

"Please, leave me alone." I tried again.

"Can't leave you alone, don't want you to be late to class." He slipped a hand around my waist and I jerked away again, walking faster.

"Don't you have your own class to get to?" I asked.

"Not yet girlie...not yet." He said yanking on the end of my skirt.

"Stop that." I said harshly as I jerked away again.

"Don't worry about it girlie, just showing how much I missed you." He said pulling my hair again.

"Stay away from me." I told him.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. My heartbeat sped up again.

"Now why would I want to do that?" He asked. He tucked a piece of my hair around my ear and kissed my neck, holding me still.

"I'll see you later girlie." He whispered in my ear before turning around and whistling as he walked away.

It became much harder not to cry. Crying is extremely necessary for survival, it releases toxins. Now was not the time to release my toxins...I took another deep breath and continued on my way to class. I made it just a few seconds after the bell rang.

I got a huge homework assignment in foreign languages, I failed a pop quiz in history, and had a very hard time understanding what we were doing in math. Luckily with Mick and Anna at my side, I managed to avoid the Bulldozers on the way to cov ops but was so distracted that I missed the first part of the lesson and Solomon did not fail to call me out on it. My apple was moldy at lunch, I was pounded in P&E and in Weapons then I blew up the lab in Science. Luckily I didn't see Zach again. Unfortunately, I did see Dr. Excellent.

"Miss Morgan." He called from down the hall.

"Yes Dr. Steve?" I had to stop myself from calling him Dr. Excellent.

"I have received word that you weren't in detention yesterday." He told me. Awww crap. I planned on going I really did but…

"She was in detention yesterday Dr. Steve, just not you detention." Solomon said coming to my aide.

"I'm sorry?" Dr. Steve asked.

"She was performing a special detention for me, in fact she will be for the next week. Seeing as she has so many weeks of detention with you, I figured you wouldn't mind giving one up." Solomon explained. Thank the stars for Solomon.

"Ah yes...I see. I'm glad you're finally taking interest in your students discipline, Joseph." Dr. Steve said proudly. Solomon nodded his head slightly. "Well Miss Morgan, it appears I will not see you for another week. Good day."

I turned to Solomon as soon as he was out of sight and began thanking him profusely.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" I exclaimed.

"Think of it as a temporary reprieve. You may informe Miss Lee and Miss Walters of it as well. Have a nice weekend, Cammie." He nodded goodbye to me before walking away.

Suddenly I seemed to forget about my horrible day as I walked happily to the common room. My good mood did not seem to last as I remember Solomon lying to Grant and I. We still had to confront him. My mood only got worse as I saw Micah standing down the hall, a small bean bag in hand.

I tried my darndest to get past him without an issue but the stars seemed determined to make this day horrible. He slid up in front of me and began tossing the bean bag up and down in his hand.

"What's the matter girlie? Problems with your boyfriend?" He teased.

"Go away." I said as I tried to maneuver around him. No luck.

"You're a worthless girlie. Pitiful girlie. Zach's gonna break up with you, girlie. Then you'll be all alone. Except for me…" He cackled. "No one wants you girlie. That's why you're here."

"Please go away." I tried to keep my voice even.

"Aww little girlie is begging now. Such a pathetic little girlie." He sneered. He began bouncing the bean bag off of me.

"Stop it." I told him.

"Sad little girlie. Worthless little girlie. Stupid little girlie. Loveless little girlie. Lonely little girlie." He kept throwing taunts at me, and with each one he bounced the bean bag off of me.

I kept making my way to the common room, reminding myself over and over again what would happen if I fought back. I promised Solomon I wouldn't fight back. It was a bad idea to fight back, that's what he wanted.

I finally saw the common room and I sprinted for it, leaving a laughing Micah being me. I sighed in relief as I shut the door behind me and saw Mick, Kim, and Eva sitting on the couch. Kim looked like she had escaped the taunts today. Good.

"Hey guys." I called as I dropped my backpack by the door and slipped off my shoes.

"Hey. The rest of our uniforms got here today." Mick informed me.

"Good, I was worried I would be down to just one shirt." I said with a smile.

"Yeah something weird happened with them though, the shirts are smaller than they should be. Nothing major though, shouldn't be an issue." Kim told me. I nodded, that was fine.

"Oh, Bex wants you to meet her in Grant's room." Eva told me.

"Thanks, I'll go down there now. I'm so glad it's friday." I told them as I put my shoes back on.

"Me too. Tina says we can have a movie night tonight." Kim said with a smile.

"That would be amazing." I said with a sigh.

"Yeah, then we can sleep in tomorrow." Mick added. I nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'm off." They waved goodbye to me as I slipped into the hall.

Micah had luckily moved on to somewhere else but I still hurried as I made my way to the boys' room. I made it there without an incident. I knocked twice on the door and Bex hurried pulled me in.

"So why did you guys want to meet with me?" I asked as soon as the door was shut.

"First, I want to see this bruise that Bex has told me so much about." Grant said, folding his arms.

I shot Bex a look. She didn't look guilty. She adopted the same posture as Grant.

"I'm not sorry Cam, he's your brother and he deserves to know." She told me.

I sighed before lifting up the edge of my shirt to show the bottom of the bruise. Grant gasped at the sight of it. The bottom was nasty, the rest of it was worse. I hoped he would just think the bottom was the whole of it but Bex was taking none of my crap. She ran forward and lifted my shirt up the rest of the way revealing the whole bruise.

"Geez Cam!" Grant yelled as he ran forward to look at it closer.

I didn't know why, it didn't look better the closer you got. It was a massive, disgusting thing. It was about the size of a bowl and covered a good chunk of my stomach. It was purple and blue and yellow and you could see some blood vessels that had popped. It looked really bad and felt even worse. Sometimes it hurt to breathe. Not that I would tell them that.

"It's not that bad." I tried to soothe him. I failed.

"It's really bad. I know, I've bruises that look really similar. I'm gonna kill him." Grant announced. I rolled my eyes. Not this again.

"You can't kill him Grant." I reminded him. "We've been over this."

"Yeah well karma doesn't seem to be doing it's job. Those jerks are still fine. I think it's time we take karma into our own hands." Grant said angrily. "It's my baby sister they're beating up and they've got to pay."

He had become more and more protective as time went on.

"Let's wait a little longer for revenge, and go talk to Solomon instead." I suggested.

He perked up a little.

"Really? Can we? Right now?" He asked rapidly. I took the opportunity to let my shirt fall back down.

"Yeah. If we can find him." I answered. I turned to Bex. "You should come too."

"If you guys want me there." She commented.

"We absolutely want you there, right Grant?" I asked and he bobbed his head yes.

"Sweet, then let's go find us a Solomon." Bex said cracking her knuckles.

"Remember guys, we're asking him a question, not interrogating him." I told them sternly as we left Grant's room and made our way to Solomon's office.

We got lucky. We found him on our first try. We knocked politely on the door and waited for him to secure the room before pouncing.

"You lied to us Mr. Solomon." I told him firmly.

"At which time, Miss Morgan?" He asked calmly.

"You said you didn't know about Grant and I being twins." I reminded him. "You lied."

"Do you have proof?" He asked.

"I was reassigned when Cam and I were eight, Mr. Solomon." Grant put in roughly.

"We found the file. If it's alright with you, we would like to know the truth now." I said calmly. He sighed slightly.

"What would you like to know?" He asked after a moment of silence. I was surprised but I pressed our advantage.

"What happened. Why they sent Grant away, why we were in delta red, why mom and dad never mentioned Grant, why I don't remember-" Solomon cut me off.

"One question at a time Miss Morgan. You know what happened. Grant was sent away for his safety. Your family was in delta red after a mission gone wrong. Your parents wiped your memory of Grant to protect you." He said shortly.

"Tell us something we don't know. Why didn't they get me back after our family was taken out of delta red." Grant demanded angrily.

"Because they didn't know where to find you. The family that was charged with your safety disappeared without a trace. We searched everywhere for you, that is what your father was doing when he went MIA." Solomon explained. I noted his use of the word 'we'. "We found you about two years after he went MIA."

I was stunned into silence. "What...happened on the mission?" I got out finally. I wanted to know what got my brother sent away from me.

"You'll have to ask your mother. I don't know." Solomon told me. I believed him.

"Thank you Mr. Solomon...We'll see you later." I said distractedly as I pulled Grant and Bex out of the room.

We left Solomon alone and hurried back to the girls common room and collapsed on the couches.

"Wow." I said after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah…" Grant agreed.

"What a day." Bex said, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"6:30" I replied.

"So almost time for food. It seems like we just barely ate. Do we have something tonight?" Bex asked.

"Yeah, Tina's movie night." I reminded her.

"Oh yeah. You coming Grant?" Bex asked.

"Am I allowed?" He asked.

"Yeah. Dates are encouraged apparently." Bex told him.

"I should probably ask Zach then." I said offhandedly.

"Maybe. Or maybe not it's up to you." Bex said. "I'm getting cold I'm gonna go get a jacket."

She climbed to her feet and stumbled to our room but stopped cold once she reached the door.

"Cam?" Bex asked.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Do you happen to know why there's a hole in our wall?" She wondered. I had forgotten about that.

"Um...yeah, Zach did it." I told her acting like it was no big deal.

"When?" She asked, a little panicked.

"This morning. I came up here to grab my homework and he was in our room and-"

"He was in our room?" She interrupted.

"Yeah. Anyway, he was in our room and we fought and he punched the wall then I kicked him out." I told her.

"Why was he in our room?" She asked as she grabbed her jacket and came to sit down again.

"I have no idea. I just found him there." I told her. "He found the note Chase slipped me."

"Chase slipped you a note?" Grant asked. I resisted the urge to face-palm. I forgot I hadn't told them.

"Yeah last night on the way to your room." I finally told them.

"Well what did it say?" Bex asked.

"'Goodnight girlie.'" I admitted. I omitted the kissy face.

"Creep." Bex commented.

"I agree." Courtney said as she entered the room. "What are we talking about?"

"Chase." I told her.

"Oh. I totally agree." She said as she flopped onto the couch next to me.

"Can we go get food?" Grant asked.

"Dinner doesn't start for another like twenty minutes." Mick commented. She came in with Courtney.

"So what. They're probably setting food out now, let's go." Grant said pulling Bex to her feet.

The rest of us sighed before following them down to the grand hall. Grant was right, they were setting out food. We all quickly piled food on our plates before sitting down. Well, everyone else piled food on their plates. I just grabbed an apple. I seemed to be doing that a lot recently. It had not escaped my friend's notice.

Kim, Eva, Tina, Anna, and Liz had joined us at the table. They all frowned when they noticed my apple. Mick was the one to say something.

"Cammie, you need to eat more than an apple." Mick said as she tried to hand me a roll. "That's all you've eaten in the past four days."

"And you don't even finish them. That's not healthy." Liz pointed out.

"I'm just not super hungry." I said with a shrug.

"You still need to eat. It's not good for you." Eva added.

"I'll eat more later. I'm just not hungry right now."I shoved the roll away. "Has anyone seen Macey?"

"She and Nick went to the library after school. Might still be there." Liz told us. "I think Macey is making him plan the date, she won the bet."

"Actually…" Bex started, but I cut her off.

"No, she still won. I didn't necessarily seek him out but he didn't exactly come looking for me either." I reminded her. She thought about it for a second.

"What happened?" Anna asked.

"Yeah I guess you're right. Don't know what we're gonna do about the hole in the wall though." Bex agreed.

"What happened?" Anna asked again. One look at Bex and I knew what we were doing. I fought the urge to smile.

"We could cover it with a picture." I suggested.

"What happened?" Anna said a little louder.

"Maybe Macey has an idea." Bex wondered.

"Or maybe you could tell us what happened." Anna said, annoyed this time.

"Maybe Liz could come up with some like quick plaster thing-" Anna cut me off.

"OH MY GOSH. WHAT. HAPPENED." Anna asked exasperated. Bex and I burst into laughter.

"Sorry Anna." I said between giggles. "We couldn't resist."

"I'll-I'll tell you what happened." Bex said as her laughter slowed. She explained what happened that morning and the girls reacted quite adamantly.

"Seriously? He was in your room and going through your stuff? Creep!" Eva exclaimed. I tried not to draw parallels between when they called Chase a creep.

"That is seriously crossing a line. Who cares what he found, that is not okay." Mick agreed.

"Cam, you have to talk to him about this!" Anna exclaimed.

"Seriously." Courtney agreed.

"Guys...it's not that simple." I tried to argue.

"If you aren't going to talk to him, I am." Liz said firmly as she got up from the table and started for where Zach was sitting.

"Liz!" I called after her. I couldn't go after her. I didn't want to face Zach. No one else got up to follow her.

I watched as Liz tapped on Zach's shoulder and he turned to face her. I couldn't quite read Liz's lips but I could definitely read her body language. She was upset, Zach was trying (and failing) to defend himself. He turned to his friends for help and boy was he surprised when they were on Liz's side. Well, Grant, and Jonas were. Soon, Zach's senior friend joined the argument and Liz was soon outnumbered. Bex was not going to let this stand. She climbed and stood next to Liz's side. Soon all of the Gallagher Girls were over there arguing with Zach and the seniors.

With nothing else to do, I joined them. I heard the argument far before I reached them.

"If he has reason to suspect her, he should be able to go and search her things. It's what we do as spies." Some senior said.

I decided now was a good a time as any to jump in.

"And if he found evidence that added to his suspicions he should be able to kill me right? Because you know, that's what you do as assassins." I called loudly over the girl's protests. They let me through so I was standing right in front of Zach. "I mean, that's the only way to solve problems isn't it? Instead of talking to a person."

"That's not what we're saying." Another senior argued.

"Oh really? Then what are you saying?" I asked coldly, adopting my 'Abby' posture. I folded my arms, popped a hip, and cocked an eyebrow.

"We're saying that if he has reason to suspect, uh...you, of cheating on him he should be able to confirm his suspicions." He explained.

"And the only way to do that is to break into a room that I share with three other people? Instead of say, walking up to me and saying 'Are you cheating on me?'" I said in an imitation of Zach's voice. I lowered my eyes to his. "Or asking my friends? Or your friends? Or the person you suspect me of cheating on you with?"

"Are you cheating on me?" Zach asked.

"No." I replied evenly. I wasn't.

"Well of course you're going to say that, you wouldn't tell him the truth." The first senior protested. I ignored him and kept my eyes locked on Zachs.

"You are trained to detect lies and you've always been able to tell when I lie to you. Look at me now Zach and tell me if I'm lying to you. I'm not cheating on you." I said calmly.

He stared at me, following every muscle contraction, every eye movement. I wasn't lying. He wasn't going to admit that he knew I wasn't lying. We could stand here all night. Mick wasn't going to let that happen.

"Whatever. We all know the truth. Come on Cam. Later, Beast." Mick said as she pulled me away from the table.

I was shaking when she wrapped an arm around me and sat me down at my place at the table.

"You okay Cam?" Kim asked.

I nodded.

"She needs to bloody eat more." Bex commented and we burst into laughs, just as Macey arrived.

"Hey guys! What'd I miss?" She asked. We laughed once more.

The rest of the dinner passed peacefully and we hurried to get back to the common room for the much awaited movie night. Mick and I had managed to convince the rest of the girls to sleep in the next morning so we were extremely excited. All the girls had managed to get dates for the night. Bex of course had Grant while Liz had Jonas, Macey had Nick, Tina had asked Andrew, Courtney asked Jake, Anna asked Sam, Eva asked Peter, Mick asked Thomas, and Kim asked Connor. They were all extremely excited for their dates and I was excited for them.

We left dinner early so they could all get ready before the guys got there. We all decided to wear our matching pajamas so we quickly changed into gray seersucker scalloped shorts, with pink letters on them paired with light pink slouchy shirts. We all decided to remove our heavy day make up and replace it with more natural looking makeup then we twisted our hair into different kinds of braids. We finished just in time for the guys to get there.

They had apparently all 'ran into' each other 'accidentally' on the way to our room so they all arrived at once. They were in a mix of basketball shorts and sweat pants with t-shirts and jackets. I wonder if they knew that if they gave their girl their jacket, they weren't getting them back. We all quickly settled ourselves on the couches and bean bags while I put the first movie in and before we knew it, our movie night was on a roll.

Each couple handled the movie differently. Macey and Nick made out the whole time, Bex and Grant fought over which actors had appeared in which movie, Liz and Jonas discussed the filming style and the quality of the equipment, Kim and Connor discussed how the movie was edited, Tina and Andrew didn't even mention the movie in their conversation, Courtney and Jake just cuddled quietly, Eva and Peter flirted, Mick and Thomas made jokes about was happening on screen, while Anna and Sam actually watched the movie.

With so many conversations going on, it was a miracle anyone could hear anything through the entire first movie. The second movie was pretty much the same, but everyone was more relaxed. By the third movie, some of the girls had fallen asleep. The fourth movie hit and the guys started falling asleep too. The fifth movie only like four people were awake. The four of us decided to watch the rest of the movie before we woke everyone up and the guys left. We bid them farewell and then all the girls piled into their separate corridors, hoping for many hours of sleep.

We slept in until lunch the next day. It was basically the greatest thing ever. We stumbled out of bed and didn't even bother changing as we made our way to great hall to get some food. I grabbed an apple once more then waited for the girls before heading to our table. Everyone began stuffing their faces, conversation at a minimum. I even managed to get most of my apple down this time. By the time we finished stuffing our faces the area was noticeably empty. Except for, of course, the Bulldozers. It's like they were waiting for us.

"Look at our little girlies." Chase said as he stroked my hair. I stopped cold.

"Sleepy girlies." Micah added as he sat next to Kim, pushing Anna out of the way.

Paul grinned as he went up behind Tina.

"Get out of here, creeps." Macey threatened.

"We won't be long." Chase told them, taking a bite of my apple.

"We just want to check on our girlies." Paul added.

"So, girlie. How are things with dear Zach?" Chase asked twirling a piece of hair around his finger.

"Fine." I said tersely. "Please go away."

"Come on now girlie don't be like that." He said sweeping my hair to the side and leaning in close to my neck. I fought the urge to run.

"Too close." Bex called pulling him away by his collar. Thank the stars for Bex.

Chase glared at her but Bex didn't look apologetic. Paul and Micah were teasing Tina and Kim but I couldn't focus on anything other than Chase's hand on the small of my back. Chase waited until Bex released him before striking forward like the snake he is and kissing my neck. I jerked away but I couldn't escape.

Bex got ready to kill him but lucky for all of us he turned on his heel and walked away, Paul and Micah following after him.

I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding in when they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Kim was shaking. I found it hard not to follow her example.

"Those freaks." Liz commented. We all gave Liz a surprised look. "What? I can be mean."

"Cam, you've got to talk to Solomon about this." Mick commented.

"Why? What can he do? He's not even a real teacher here. He can't do anything." I said softly. "No, as long as they aren't attacking us, it's fine."

"Cam, are you sure? Maybe you should talk to Zach again-" Courtney tried.

"No way. He's already incredibly mad at me. There's no way he's even going to see me right now, let alone do me a favor. Besides, I can't ask him to turn on his friend. It wouldn't be fair." I argued.

"Cam, you need to do something." Bex said softly. Coming from anyone else I would've exploded, but Bex and I made a promise. We would always tell each other the hard truths.

I turned to Bex and made eye contact with her. Willing her to understand what I was too afraid to say.

I don't know what to do. She seemed to understand because she wrapped me under her arm and softly stroked my hair. I didn't have the heart to tell her how much it reminded me of Chase. As always Bex knew exactly what I was thinking as she stopped stroking my hair and mumbled an apology softly.

"Guys, I'm gonna go up to the room. I'm still tired." I told them as I gently pulled myself from Bex. I needed to think.

"I'm gonna come with you. I need to catch up on my sleep." Bex said as she climbed to her feet. One look at her face and I knew exactly why she was having trouble sleeping.

We waved goodbye to our friends as we made our way out of the hall towards the stairs. I ran a shaky hand through my hair as I noticed the lack of people around. I hoped the Bulldozers wouldn't attack with Bex by my side. I didn't want her to get hurt.

It seems every time I hope, I'm just disappointed. I felt a chill on the back of my neck and I felt Chase's arms encircle my waist. He pulled me close to him and chuckled as I lashed out at him with my fists.

Micah and Paul had Bex pulled off to the side within seconds and between the two of them they kept her busy so she couldn't help me. I started to panic as Chase pushed me up against the wall and pinned my arms above my head and holding my legs against the wall. It scared me how easy it was for him to render me immobile. I started struggling harder, no tact to my movement just horrified squirms. Chase chuckled at my attempts as he leaned forward and bit my lip drawing blood.

"Silly little girlie." Suddenly it wasn't Chase holding me anymore, it was Jacoby.

Jacoby shook me a little bit as if to call me back to reality, concern in his eyes.

"Cam, are you okay? What's wrong? You said the last session wasn't as bad. I'm going to break us out of here tonight, I promise. We're gonna get out of here."

This was a flashback. I couldn't control the next words that came out of my mouth.

"You know it's futile. We only have a week left, it's bad enough without another failed escape attempt on our record. Come on Jacoby, just let it be."

"Cam, I can't bear to see you like this." He told me as he gently pushed a piece of hair back behind my ear.

"It'll be okay." My voice says strongly as I shake inwardly.

Next thing I know I'm back in the gray room with the General conditioning me. One, two, three hits later and I'm in the arena with Marcos. Neither of us wants to hurt the other but we don't have a choice. Not anymore. Marcos' foot collides with my head and I'm back in the barracks with Jacoby nursing my wounds. I'm going to miss him. Jacoby becomes the General once more as he screams in my face, "Fight the pain! Worthless, good for nothing, Female! Where's your strength?" He's pummeling me and each syllable brings another punch or kick, I'm entirely defenseless.

"Cam! Cam! CAM!" Bex is shaking me trying to pull me out of the nightmare. I sit up shakily with tears in my eyes. "Oh honey…"

I let myself cry as Bex wraps her arms around my shoulders and pulls me into a hug. The nightmares haven't been this bad in weeks. She soothes me silently as I feel the blows as if they were real. As soon as I calm down enough to realize that we're not on my bed, I feel the pain. I had been punching the wall in my sleep, my knuckles were raw.

"Bex…" I said softly staring in horror at my fists. "How long…?"

"A few minutes, I would have gotten to you sooner but you kept attacking me each time I tried.I finally managed to sneak up behind you." She explained.

"I'm sorry." I manage to get out.

"It's not your fault." She reminds me. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shake my head and bury my head on her shoulder.

"Jacoby?" She asks. I nod once. "That's not your fault Cam. Not at all."

"I miss him." I say softly.

"I know Cam. I know. He misses you too. I'm sure of it." She comforts. "Let's get back to bed."

I let her pull me back up onto my bed and pull her down by my side. I don't want to be alone if the nightmares come back. Bex falls asleep first but I'm not far behind.

A few hours later, I wake up for real and feel the pain from my nightly...training session. I quietly climb out of bed in the morning and patch up my bruises and bloody knuckles the best I can. They've seen worse. I quickly run a brush through my hair and pull on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before going out to the common room to watch a movie. What I see surprises me but it's not entirely unexpected.

"Zach." I said in an even tone.

"Hey Cam…" He says rubbing a hand on the back of his neck.

"What can I do for you?" I ask folding my arms.

"Forgive me? I was a real jerk the other day. I don't want to lose you." He admits after looking over his shoulder.

I don't say anything. He comes closer.

"Cam…" He says softly wrapping an arm around my waist. "Come on Cam."

He cups my cheek with his other hand. He gives me his dumb half smile and tickles my waist lightly and I fight the urge to smile. He knows he's got me. He leans forward and peppers my cheek and neck with light kisses.

"Come oooon." He groans as I laugh in his ear. "Say iiiiit!"

"Okay, okay, I forgive you." I say pulling away, but he catches one of my hands and grabs it. He presses a kiss to it and pulls me toward the couch.

"Is that so?" He asks an eyebrow cocked.

"Yes that is so." I reply with light sass as he pulls me onto the couch next to him.

"Good, then you'll watch this movie with me." He says as he wraps a blanket around the two of us.

I smile and let myself melt across his lap as we lounge on the couch watching one of the movies we watched the night before. He plays lightly with my hair. At first I freak out a little bit as I think of the similarities to Chase but force down the disgust and let him play with it, not letting on how much it bothers me. Slowly I forget about the fact that he's playing with my hair and fall asleep.

About two hours later I am awakened when a pillow whacks Zach in the head, causing him to sit up abruptly.

"Oh, sorry guys didn't see you there." Grant claims innocently as he plops the pillow back onto the couch. "Have you seen Bex?"

"She's still asleep." I tell him groggily.

"Go get her for me?" Grant asked as he sits next to Zach on the couch.

"Sure." I say as I stumble to my feet and head for our corridor. "Bex! You're boyfriend is waiting for you. Zach's out there too." I announce after going and jumping on Bex a few times.

She groaned. "What time is it?"

"Early." I replied.

"Why do they insist on doing this? Do they not understand the concept of sleeping in?" Liz complained.

"I'm with Liz." Macey agreed sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Well if you think you can make them leave…" I said, looking at my bed longingly. I really was still tired.

"I can get rid of Grant, but you're gonna have to make Zach leave." Bex said as she got to her feet.

"I'll do my best." I said softly following her out into the common room.

"Bex!" Grant said excitedly kissing her on the cheek.

"Hi Grant. Do you realize what time it is?" Bex replied sweetly.

"It's like, 10." Grant replied.

"No Grant, it's early. Very early for day after movie night standards. We need more sleep." Bex said coaxing him onto the couch.

"What time did you guys get to bed?" Zach asked.

"Like...4:50." Grant answered after a moment's thought.

"Geez!" Zach exclaimed. Bex and I shushed him.

"You see why we need to sleep." Bex said softly. "We just want to go back to bed."

"Grant, you should get more sleep too." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He yawned in response.

"Yeah maybe you're right." Grant agreed.

"Great. We'll see you later." Bex said as she climbed to her feet. Grant followed after and gave her a hug. I heard her whisper softly in Grant's ear, "Do me a favor and take the beast with you."

Grant nodded once and pulled a groaning Zach to the door behind him as Bex and I went back to the room and collapsed on the bed once more.

The next time I woke up, I felt fully rested for the first time in weeks. We had slept through breakfast and lunch unfortunately so most of us were starving. It didn't take long for the girls to direct their attention to me, giving me the not so subtle hint that I should sneak into the kitchen and steal us all food.

I was feeling good so after checking to make sure the coast was clear, I made my way to the passage I had discovered a few days before (had it really only been a few days?) and scuttled into it. I was surprised to see the same kid as before in the same exact place he had been when he helped me escape.

"Hello." I said tentatively.

He looked at me with wide eyes but didn't say anything.

"My name is Cammie." I said as I made my way toward him.

"I know." He said softly.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Waylon. I'm not supposed to talk to you." He replied.

"Who said you aren't supposed to talk to me?" I wondered.

"Your boyfriends. I'm supposed to stay away from you and all the rest of the girls." Waylon told me.

"Boyfriends?" I questioned.

"Yeah. Zach and Chase." He replied.

"Just Zach, I'm not...I'm not friends with Chase." I told him.

"Oh." He said shortly.

"Can you help me find the kitchen?" I asked him as I looked around at the passages that branched off.

"Will you get me in trouble?" He asked looking at me with his big brown eyes.

"Not on purpose." I replied truthfully.

"Okay. They're this way." He jumped to his feet and pulled me along with him through several twisting turns. I mapped out the route in my head for future reference.

A few minutes into the journey he popped off a piece of wall and luckily for me, we were right behind all the snack food in the kitchen pantry. I loaded up as much as I could carry then asked Waylon to help me carry some too. He looked all too happy to oblige. As soon as we were loaded up with food, we replaced the panel and Waylon led us back to the girls dorms.

He had an exit that was a lot closer to the door than the one I had found near the math hall. We hurried into the girls common room and got several weird looks as the girls realized I wasn't alone.

"Who's the minnow?" Jonas asked as I shut the door behind us.

"Waylon. When did you guys get here?" I asked as I nodded to Nick, Grant, and Jonas.

"A few minutes ago. Why's he here?" Grant asked.

"He's helping me carry food. I've decided to adopt him." I answered.

"Where'd you find him?" Bex asked.

"The passageways. Where's everyone else?" I wondered.

"Cammie, what did we tell you about bringing home strays that you find in the passageways." Macey said exasperated.

"This is not like that one time, this is a real live human being!" I exclaimed.

"Oh let her keep him, what harm can he do?" Liz put in.

"Yay! Now, where's everyone else?" I asked again.

"Apparently they all woke up before we did so they're out and about. It's just us." Macey told me.

"You brought food with you, right?" Bex asked jumping to her feet.

"Yeah." Waylon and I piled the food we had gathered onto the table.

We descended onto the pile like a pack of wild wolves. Mere moments later the pile was reduced to nothing but wrappers. Waylon looked a bit scared.

"So kid, how old are you?" Grant asked.

"I'm...I'm in 5th grade." He replied quietly.

"That didn't answer my question." Grant pointed out.

"He'd be ten, Grant." Jonas told him as he pulled out his laptop and turned it on.

"Be nice, Grant." Liz instructed firmly as she curled around Jonas and his laptop.

"I was being nice! I just asked a question!" Grant defended, but Liz and Jonas were already lost into the technological world.

"It's okay Grant, you just intimidate him a little bit." I said as I pulled Waylon down to sit by me.

"I'm not trying to be intimidating." Grant complained as I laid down on Bex's lap.

"It's okay, we know." Bex comforted him as she began to play with his hair.

"So Waylon, what do you think of Blackthorne?" Nick asked.

"It's...okay." Waylon replied nervously.

"A little intense, isn't it?" Nick asked again, friendly.

"Yeah…" Waylon replied, a little louder this time.

"The other guys being nice to you?" Nick wondered as he pulled Macey under his arm.

"Yeah! Well, most of them anyway." He said, growing quieter again.

"Who's being mean to you, kid?" Grant asked.

"Just some of the older kids." Waylon said nonchalantly.

"Do you know their names? Maybe we could talk to them." Nick suggested.

"No, no they wouldn't like that." Waylon exclaimed suddenly.

"Hey," I got him to look at me "Who is it Waylon?" I asked softly.

"Your boyfriends." He told me quietly, hoping the others couldn't hear.

"Boyfriends?" Grant asked confused.

"Zach and Chase." I told him as I sighed. I didn't want to believe it but...I knew it was true.

"Seriously? Man, what is up with Zach?" Nick asked looking at Grant.

"I dunno dude...something's wrong though." Grant replied, thoughtful.

"Could you talk to him about it Cammie?" Macey asked.

"Maybe...I'd have to pick the right time though, he's been so touchy lately." I replied, running a hand through my hair.

"I thought you guys made up this morning." Grant pointed out.

"Yeah, mostly. I don't want to mess with it right now though, just in case things aren't as settled as I think they are." I told them.

"Ugh, I'm about to explode I can't just sit here all day. Can we go train?" Bex begged.

"I'm down." Macey and I said in unison.

"Sounds like fun." Grant replied.

"I'll go." Nick said "You wanna come with us Waylon?"

Waylon thought about it a minute before nodding.

"Sweet, let's go change. We'll meet you guys in the gym." Grant said jumping to his feet.

"Cool. Lizzie, Jonas, you guys staying here?" Bex asked.

"Yeah." Liz called over her shoulder.

"We'll see you guys later then." Grant told them as he, Nick, and Waylon hurried out the door.

The girls and I hurried to change into yoga pants and simple tank tops before sliding on our running shoes and making our way to the gym. About halfway to the gym I heard a voice that stopped me dead in my tracks.

Micah. I don't know how I knew it was his voice, but I knew. When I heard a small female squeal I knew he was after Tina and I had to help her. I quickly turned on my heel and hurried to find her, running through the halls leaving Bex and Macey in my wake.

I found them a few halls down and I ran and jumped on Micah's back, pulling him away from Tina. To say he was mad, would be an understatement. He roared as ran backwards, slamming me into the wall behind us. He completely ignored a shaking Tina as he began to whale on me, punches, kicks, threats, and curses were all flung at me as he took out his anger.

The next minute and a half seemed to last an eternity. I knew Tina was not in the mindset to help me, Micah had really gotten to her. My original plans of standing up to Micah, and finally beating him in a fight were crushed as for the first time in forever, I froze. My mind stopped working and my muscles seized up. There was physically nothing I could do to stop him from hurting me. I just kept thinking 'This is wrong, I should hit him back, I should scream, I should move.' My every instinct was yelling at me to do what I had been trained to do but I just...couldn't. He had broken me. He won.

Eventually, Bex and Macey found us. Bex pulled Micah off of me and screamed for help with Macey ran to Tina. Micah ran off scared before a teacher could catch him and I just sat there. Still frozen. From Bex's reaction, my injuries were pretty bad but I couldn't feel anything. I was numb. Bex pulled me to my feet and got me down to the infirmary. Tina had snapped out of her trance and she ran to get Mr. Solomon while Macey went to get the boys. I didn't have the energy to fight her on it.

The nurse greets us with what is becoming a familiar look on her face. She doesn't have to direct me as to where to go. I know where to meet her. I take a seat on the bed, Bex looking nervous by my side.

"Are you okay, Cam?" Bex asks.

I can't speak. I just shake my head no. She wraps me in a hug and I break down. Tears streak my face and sting my cuts. Silent tears became sobs as I finally released my emotional dam and let everything out. Bex just squeezes me tighter. By the time the nurse appears to clean me up, I'm all out of tears. I take a few shuddering breaths as the pain finally hits me.

"Wow...he really did a number on me this time, didn't he?" I asked Bex.

"Yeah. It was rough this time. I swear if Solomon doesn't do something productive this time, I will." Bex growled.

It was if Solomon was waiting for us to mention him before he came in. He burst through the door, red in the face, steam practically coming out of his ears. He looked over my injuries once carefully categorizing them before turning on his heel and leaving the room once more.

"I assume he's going to get the headmaster." The stunned Nurse said.

"He'd better be." Bex commented. The Nurse turned back to her work but didn't get to work much longer before our next set of visitors burst through the door.

"Cammie!" Liz exclaimed, Jonas hot on her heels while Waylon followed behind.

"Are you okay?" Jonas asked wildly. "No, no, no, you are most definitely not okay."

"How did you beat the others down here?" I asked.

"Tina came to the common room and-"

"Right, short cut. I remember." I cut her off.

"Cammie!" Macey exclaimed as she ran through the door, Nick, Grant, and Waylon right behind her. "Liz? Again? You need to show me this short cut."

"Cammie what in the world happened this time?" A very concerned Grant asked.

"He was going after Tina and-"

"Miss Morgan!" A very upset Dr. Steve exclaimed, cutting me off as he burst through the doorway. I flinched. "This has gotten completely out of hand! Beating up students for nothing more than speaking to a friend? I will be contacting your mother and I do believe it is time you returned to Gallagher!"

"Not so fast Steven." Solomon exclaimed with the headmaster at his side. "Cammie dear would you mind telling the Headmaster what your experience at Blackthorne has been like so far? Don't leave anything out."

I swallowed once before recounting Micah, Paul, and Chase's behavior as well as Dr. Steve's obsessive detentions. Any time I tried to downplay what had happened or tried to lie about an encounter Solomon called me out on it and made sure I told the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Headmaster listened silently to my story until I was completely finished.

"Well Miss Morgan, it seems you've had quite the adventure while here at Blackthorne. I assure you I will be speaking to these young men and I will take proper disciplinary action. Meanwhile I hope you get well quickly, and consider your detentions disbanded. Steven, my office." He politely said goodbye to all before turning and stalking out of the room, Dr. Steve following sulkily behind.

"Cammie!" I could hear the rest of the Gallagher Girls running down the halls.

"We're in here!" Bex replied for me.

"Well Miss Morgan it seems you are about to be very busy, I'll leave you to your friends and go call your mother." Solomon said kindly.

"Thank you Mr. Solomon." I replied gratefully. I hoped she would want to talk to me. I needed my mom right now.

"Well now that all the teachers are out of here, I'm going to go kill Micah. If you'll excuse me." Grant said calmly as he turned for the door. Luckily the incoming flood of Gallagher Girls kept him from getting to the hall.

"Stop him!" I ordered as the girls came in. The clogged the doorway and kept Grant from getting out.

"Cammie, are you okay?" Kim asked from the front line of girls in the door.

"Does she bloody look okay?" Bex replied for me.

"Well she certainly looks bloody." Mick commented.

"Now's not the time for your dumb jokes Mick." Anna said as she tried to stop a charging Grant.

"I wasn't joking, she's covered in blood." Mick grumbled.

"I certainly hope it's not all hers." Grant shot back in reply as he tried once more to get past the Gallagher Girls.

"Hey, will someone go find Zach?" I asked.

"I'll go!" Courtney volunteered from the back.

"Thank you!" I replied.

"Anyone know where the beast might be?" Courtney asked.

"Check the seniors corner in the back of the school." Nick suggested.

"Thanks!" Courtney ran off to see if she could find Zach.

"Alright Miss Cammie I'm afraid I need to send your friends out so I can check for damage under your clothing." The Nurse told me as she began to shuffle everyone out.

"I'm not going anywhere." Bex said firmly.

"Neither am I." Grant added as he abandoned his attempts to get past the Gallagher Girls.

"Mr. Newman, I'm afraid I can't let you stay." The Nurse said kindly.

"I'm afraid there's no way you're going to get me to leave." Grant replied.

"Oh just tell her everyone else here already knows." Bex said. Grant looked at me for confirmation first. I nodded. I trusted the nurse.

"I'm waiting until the door shuts." Grant told us. The Nurse seemed to understand we had something to tell her and ushered everyone out before closing the door and looking at us for an explanation. "Cammie and I are twins." Grant said plainly.

The Nurse laughed a little thinking it was a joke but she soon realized we were serious. She examined us each closely before declaring that she believed us.

"Okay Mr. Newman I suppose you can stay." She said reluctantly. "That is, if Cammie wants you here."

"He can stay. We would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about us. We don't want a bunch of people to know quite yet." I told her.

"Your secret is safe with me." She winked at me. "Let's see the damage this time."

We eventually managed to pull my shirt off with Bex and the Nurse pulling the shirt and Grant guiding my movements. Of course, this was the exact moment Zach decided to show up. He burst through the door, the Gallagher Girls were nowhere in sight, presumably they didn't care enough to try and stop him. His eyes flew to Grant but he didn't say anything about it.

"Cammie, are you okay?" Zach asked rushing to my side. He gently fingered one of the bruises on my forehead.

"Yeah." I replied.

"She is most definitely not okay." Bex corrected me.

"Mr. Goode, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The Nurse told him.

"Grant's in here." Zach pointed.

"Grant-" Bex cut her off.

"Grant's here to help me. Go away now Zach. We'll call you back in a minute." She ordered him out.

Zach gave Bex and Grant a glare before kissing me softly and backing out of the room.

The shirt came off and the Nurse examined my torso carefully. She fingered my bruising ribs. She checked my wrists and ankles as well as my knees. Her diagnosis was a sprained wrist, a twisted ankle, bruised ribs, a minor concussion, and a damaged shoulder in addition to over two dozen cuts and bruises. I was sentenced to three days of bed rest.

As soon as we were done the Nurse gave Grant permission to go get everyone else. Zach was the first one in with the Gallagher Girls right behind him. Zach hurried to my side and grabbed my hand with it's wrapped knuckles after my late night training session.

"So Cam, what's the verdict? You gonna be okay?" Anna asked.

"She's been assigned three days of bed rest. No exceptions." The Nurse informed them. "She is to be looked after carefully, I'm trusting you girls to take care of her."

"Of course we'll take care of her." Jonas said despite the looks he got.

Nick jumped to defend him. "What, all the sudden we don't count anymore? We're gonna help you guys look after Cammie no matter what you say."

"We didn't say anything." Macey pointed out.

"You were giving us the look though." Jonas put in.

"Okay, let's do this later. Cammie needs to get to bed." Liz said stopping the argument.

"Make sure she get's lots of rest." The Nurse called as Grant bent to pick me up and carry me upstairs.

"It's okay Grant, I've got her." Zach said before Grant could pick my up all the way.

"You sure?" Grant asked.

"Yeah. Definitely." Zach pulled me into his arms none too gently.

"Well okay." Grant put an arm around Bex's shoulders and they led us towards the girls rooms.

About halfway to our room Zach started a whispered conversation.

"What was that about Cam?" Zach asked.

"What was what about?" I replied.

"That thing with Grant. Why him?" Zach questioned.

"I don't know. He's just been around a ton, hanging out with Bex. We're friends, I guess." I replied.

"You sure there's nothing else going on?" He asked, sounding slightly jealous.

"Am I sure there's nothing else going on with my best friend's boyfriend? Yes. Very sure." I said slightly irritated.

"Hey, Zach!" A voice called from behind us. I would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Chase! Hey man!" Zach replied. I began to shake ever so slightly.

"Zach...please." I whimpered quietly. He ignored me.

"This where you disappeared too?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, sorry man. Duty calls." Zach said with a small smile.

"Aww poor little girlie." Chase said with a filthy grin. I shook a little more and buried my face in Zach's neck. "Well let me know when you're off duty, we've got things to discuss my man. Feel better, little girlie."

"See you Chase!" Zach called after him.

"Later man!" Chase replied over his shoulder.

"Alright Cam, let's get you back to your dorm. Hey, you alright? You're shaking. You cold?" He asked as we began walking again.

"Yeah." Was all I managed to get out. I couldn't tell him the truth.

"Let's get you into bed." He suggested and began walking faster.

I was deposited on my bed, kissed on the forehead and bid farewell. Then Zach disappeared to go and converse with the enemy. Luckily my friends and brother were not about to be so easily deterred. They tucked me gently into bed and promised to stay by my side. Bex and Macey gently brushed out my tangled hair and twisted it into a loose french braid before helping me change into a pair of comfortable pajamas and tucking me into bed. The nurse had cleared me to sleep seeing as my concussion wasn't major but I wasn't eager for the nightmares to come back.

"Bex?" I asked quietly as she stroked my hair trying to help my sleep.

"Yeah Cam?" She replied.

"I don't want to go to sleep." I told her, my voice cracking slightly. Something Grant and the other guys didn't fail to notice.

"Why not, Cammie bear?" Grant asked.

"Because of the nightmares." Macey told him when I didn't reply.

"What nightmares?" Jonas asked.

"We had a...rough summer. It hit Cammie the hardest but...well we're all still recovering." Liz explained.

"What happened?" Nick asked quietly.

"We went to a summer training program and it was...rougher than we-" Macey began explaining but Nick cut her off.

" _Nunquam non paratus_ " Nick whispered with a look of sadness in his eyes.

"You've been?" Bex asked sympathetically. "How long?"

"I didn't last more than a week." He informed us. "How long were you there?"

"I was there just over two weeks." Liz had been there the least amount of time.

"I made it three weeks." Macey lasted just barely longer than Liz.

"I was there for a month, just a few days longer than Mace." Bex told him, his eyes widened. "Cammie though...Cam-"

"I was there for three months. The whole session." I cut her off, trying to keep my voice strong.

"Cammie…" Nick said softly, amazed.

"It's not so bad." I tried to tell him. "You get kind of used to it and you learn to block the memories.

"I'm confused what is this place?" Jonas asked.

"A special CIA training session for teens in the business. It's basically a series of torture sessions that lead up to pitting the trainee's against each other in a thunder dome like setting. I can't believe you lasted a whole session." Nick said in awe.

"It's not something I would want to do again." I told him honestly.

"Cam...is there anything I can do to help?" Grant asked.

"Don't leave." I said slightly panicked as I laid down to sleep. "It's easier when I'm not alone."

I started to doze off as they continued discussing the session.

"I can't believe she lasted a whole session without you know...dying…" Nick commented. "Not to mention doing it alone."

"Well it wasn't exactly like that…" Bex's explanation was lost on me as I drifted into a restless sleep.


	11. Chapter 11 part 1

Chapter 11

Bex's POV

"Well then what was it like, exactly?" Grant asked as he looked at Cam and me, worried.

"Well...what do you want to know?" Macey asked.

"When did it start? When did it end? What happened that made Cam...like this? What happened that gave you all such horrible flashbacks?" He fired off in rapid succession. I fought off the flashbacks as I tried to think of a good way to answer.

"It started a week before school was out. We got headmistresses permission to leave early. The session ended the second week before school started. What happened well...that's a harder question to answer." Macey answered quickly.

"I...I think Bex should answer." Liz stammered. Even though she had spent the least amount of time there, her sensitivity made it really hard on her.

Everyone looked at me expectantly. I took a shaky breath before explaining what I knew of the camp.

"Well...their curriculum is based on punishment. Do what you're told perfectly and the beating isn't too bad. Don't live up to their standards, get sent home. Don't try hard enough and you're forced to stay and endure a beating. Try and escape...well…" I reached over and gently pulled the blanket off of Cammie and pushed her shorts out of the way to reveal the brand on her hip. "BNDII" was burned into her skin and without cosmetic surgery, she would bear it forever. "It means prisoner."

"Oh my…" Grant leaned over and brushed it gently with his fingertips. Cammie began to stir so he pulled away. He was shaking with rage. "Who did this to her?"

"The General." I answered shortly. "And Cam's not the only one he did it to. You remember Cam mentioning someone named Jacoby?"

The boys nodded their confirmation. "I was going to ask about him next." Nick said quietly. "Who was he? Or- is he? To Cam?"

"He's...he's Jacoby." Macey said, holding her hands up in surrender. "That's the only way to explain it. He was there with Cam through the entire session, they plotted their escape attempts together and were branded prisoners together. They were inseparable. I'm grateful to him, he took care of Cam when we couldn't. They took care of each other."

"Why does Cam think this guy needs to forgive her?" Jonas asked.

"Cam ended up coming out of the session the champion. She had to pull some dirty tricks to survive and she feels like Jacoby blames her for his loss. Honestly, I think he let her win to keep her from anymore pain." Liz explained.

"Cam and Jacoby...they were really close. They were all they had in there and Jacoby is so much like Cam that they just instantly got along perfectly. They protected each other and saved each other more times than I can count, and that's just while I was there. Cam's dying without him. He kept the nightmares at bay. They both had some pretty serious PTSD from that, we all do, but while they were together...it's like the terror couldn't get to them. After they were separated at the end of the session, Cam went mad." I informed them.

"We need to find Jacoby." Nick said firmly. "If he can help Cam, then we need him here."

"I agree. How do we find him?" Macey asked.

"I'll see what I can find." Grant said grimly.

"You won't be able to find anything, Liz and I will look." Jonas stopped him before he could get any crazy ideas.

"We'll all look." I said before a fight could break out. "She'll never admit it but she really needs him. And I think he needs her too."


	12. Chapter 11 Pt2

Cam's POV

Okay, honestly, I'm sick of sleeping. Three days of forced bed rest can do that to a person. I was sick and tired of sitting around doing nothing. I made plans to go on a wild adventure after my three days bed rest. I walked through my argument in my mind a few times to make sure when I proposed the idea to my friends they would agree. To my immense surprise, no argument was necessary.

"Great idea Cam, I could get out of Blackthorne for a few hours myself." Bex readily agreed.

"Come on, plea-wait what?" I asked.

"I think it's a great idea too. Maybe we can get some shopping in." Macey nodded.

"I'm only in if we can bring the boys." Liz commented as she plopped down on my bed.

"You guys are seriously down for this? Like to sneak out of the school and break a dozen rules?" I clarified warily. "What do you have planned?"

"It looks like you're the one that has stuff planned Cam. We're just along for the ride." Bex teased.

"Okay...Let's go Saturday early morning. We'll leave a note on the door that you three are sick and my head hurts. That should keep people out." I suggested, still slightly suspicious.

"What about the boys?" Liz asked.

"It's four boys in an all boys school, I don't think they'll particularly be missed." I replied.

"Three. Zach has plans with the seniors on Saturday. It's all they've been able to talk about all week." Bex clarified with an eye roll. I tried not to let on how hurt I was.

"Okay, even better. Three are even less likely to be found missing." I said nodding along.

"Well sounds like a great idea. Now honestly I'm exhausted I want to go to bed and you're going back to your classes tomorrow." Macey reminded us as she began to get ready for dinner.

"Right. Is it weird that I'm excited to go back to class?" I asked.

"Very. Oh and Cam?" Bex called as she went into the bathroom.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Don't ask your teachers about make up work. We already did it and turned it in." She said as she shut and locked the door behind her.

"Wait, what?" I asked Macey but she had disappeared into the bathroom at the other end of the hall, Courtney and Kim's bathroom. That left Liz.

"Lizzie?" I asked quietly as I moved towards her.

"Well...We didn't want you to have to do it with your hurt head so we got together with the boys and split up the assignments and did them for you and turned them in." Liz said quickly as she backed away.

"Why did you guys do that?" I asked as I backed her into a corner.

"To practice our forgery?" She replied uncertainly.

"Liz." I said giving her a stern look.

"Really Cam, we just wanted to help. Besides, you did the same for us when we were out with food poisoning." Liz gave me an innocent look. "We have over views of everything important, you can read those."

I sighed before wrapping her in a hug.

"Thank you." I said sincerely and gave her a small smile. She grinned back at me.

"Now, why don't we get ready for dinner. You can come down with us, but only if you promise to eat real food." Liz said as sternly as she could.

"Yes! Yes yes yes, of course, yes I will eat real food." I said excitedly as I began to jump up and down.

"Guys! Cam's coming to dinner with us." Liz yelled to the other girls and suddenly our corridor was being flooded by the other girls, all very excited I would join them that night.

We spent more time than strictly necessary getting ready for dinner before we joined the boys as we walked down to dinner.

I have never been so excited to have a meal and never so exhausted by one. I spent a majority of the meal watching the bulldozers carefully and the rest of it laughing with my friends. It was a bittersweet kind of feeling.

As we got ready for bed and the days to come I started to get very excited for the coming Saturday. What should we do? We could go on an excursion through the town or we could even get to the next town over if we could somehow commandeer a car. That would be interesting. I would ask the others. I laid in bed for hours trying to fall asleep but I was so restless I didn't know what else to do. I slipped on some socks and went down through the passageway to the gym.

I slipped silently into the gym and stopped cold when I heard another person in there. I crept carefully to peak around the corner to see who it was. I sighed in relief when I saw that it was just Mark.

"Hey Mark." I called as I neared the punching bag.

"Cammie! Up on your feet again? We've missed you in class." He replied with a smile when he saw me.

"Yeah I'm back tomorrow." I told him excitedly.

"Good, I've got a lot to teach you and not a lot of time."

"Well, I'm excited to learn." I said with a smile.

"I'm glad. So, time for another midnight lesson?" He asked with a grin. "I've come to really enjoy them."

"That would be awesome." I said as I began to pull my hair back into a ponytail.

"Alright, show me what you've got." He smiled as he went to stand behind the punching bag.

It felt so good to be physical again and to able to exercise. We worked a lot longer than we should've, going up to when the rest of the girls would be waking up. I thanked Mark profusely before sneaking back to our room and jumping in the shower.

The rest of the week was great, the bulldozers gave us a wide birth, we no longer had detention, and I was going on a trip with my best friends into town. Saturday couldn't come fast enough and when it finally finally finally came Macey insisted on waking us up an hour and a half earlier than strictly necessary so we could get ready for the day. We decided to all wear our black dresses (seeing as we would have worn black anyway). Macey's was a classy straight dress, Bex's was backless, Liz was in a vintage 50's style, and mine had a flowy skirt and ¾ length sleeve. We all chose different accessories to put on once we got into town before curling our hair and applying our makeup. Exactly 5 minutes before the boys showed up, we were ready.

A quiet knock on the door and we all ran to answer before the other girls could wake up.

"Hello ladies." Grant said with a debon-aire smile.

We all quickly shushed him before he could wake anyone up. They were all dressed in what could be considered fashionable black but wouldn't make it impossible to escape without notice. I couldn't stop grinning at the prospect of breaking out, it was exactly what I needed this week.

We slipped out of the hall and into the secret passage where Waylon was waiting to lead us outside. I waved hi to him excitedly and gave him a hug. He grinned at me before we continued on silently. Waylon left us as the morning light hit our faces. We promised to bring him back something sweet from the candy store in town as he shut the passageway behind us.

"Follow me." Jonas instructed with a wicked smile. I was taken aback by this change in Jonas but nevertheless I followed excitedly.

He led us through the grounds surrounding Blackthorne. We slipped quietly through all the security that kept Blackthorne safe from unwanted visitors before Grant led us to the van that he had stolen from Dr. Excellent's office. As soon as the doors were shut and we were on our way I let out a cheer.

"Finally!" I yelled as I stretched out on the floor of the van.

"Uh uh uh, up off the floor. You're in a dress." Macey scolded as if I were a small child.

I groaned but buckled myself in a seat.

"I can't believe you're going along with this." I said as Grant drove us towards town.

"It's worth it to see you so excited Cam." Liz told me with a soft smile.

"So what do you guys want to do today?" I asked. Since I've forced them all out here at all our risk I might as let them decide on plans.

"Well, why don't we take a walk around and see what there is to do?" Macey suggested.

"Sounds good to me. Are we almost there?" I asked, trying not to sound whiny.

"Almost Cam, just a few minutes." Bex replied with a smile. "Hey, maybe I can drive the rest of the way."

"NO!" Macey, Liz, and I exclaimed in unison.

"Why not?" Nick asked with a bemused smile on his face.

"Bex is absolutely the worst driver ever." Liz stated plainly. "No offense Bex."

"Some taken." Bex huffed.

"Oh come on Bex, you know it's true. You're absolutely atrocious." Macey said bluntly.

"Do you not remember almost killing Professor Buckingham? Several times? And us with her?" I reminded her with a laugh.

"I've gotten better! I practiced over the summer with my parents." She told us with a smirk.

"In London?" Macey asked innocently.

"Wasn't that the problem in the first place?" Liz wondered aloud.

"You know what Lizzie, I think it was." I said with a grin.

"Fine, I won't convince Grant to let me drive the rest of the way." Bex sighed.

"It wouldn't have done you much good, we're already here." Grant said as he parked in the back stalls of a supermarket.

"Alright boys, you know this place best. Lead the way." Macey directed as she grabbed Nick's arm.

Grant led us all around the lower town pointing out all the townie's favorite places so if we ever came here on an assignment we could avoid the worst of them. He showed us the arcade and the places with the best burgers and the best fries (two very different places). He pointed out the candy shop and we ran in to get Waylon some candy that we carried in Macey's purse.

"As much fun as this is, why don't we go bowling? I don't think Macey's ever been." Bex suggested.

Something was off. I know for a fact Macey has been bowling multiple times, we've taken her. Something must be at the bowling alley. Should I let on that I know? Eh, might as well.

"So what's waiting for us at the bowling alley?" I asked casually.

"Bowling I assume." Nick answered quickly. Like I would fall for that. I whirled around to look at Liz and Jonas.

"Lizzie? Who's waiting for us at the bowling alley?" I asked, never taking my eyes from hers.

"I knew we should've said it was Nick." Bex grumbled almost too quietly.

"Uh...well...the cashier?" She suggested squeakily.

"Lizzie."I said with a warning in my voice.

"She's not going to tell you Cam, you're going to have to wait and see." Macey said before Liz could spill.

"If it makes you feel better, we're almost there." Nick pointed to the corner just a few yards away. "It's just down the-"

I took off running towards where he was pointing.

"Street." He finished as I quickly made it out of hearing range.

"Cam, wait!" Bex called after me.

I ignored her as I neared the corner as I slowed my pace and peaked around the corner to see who was there. I couldn't see anything but a motorcycle. I didn't know anyone that rides a motorcycle. I tried to do more recon but I was at the absolute worst angle. Grant must have taken us this way on purpose, keeping me from seeing who it was before they wanted me too.

"Cam, you don't need to sneak. I promise, it's someone you'll want to see." Bex whispered in my ear. "Go on."

I walked hesitantly around the corner towards the mysterious bike. As soon as I saw him there leaning up against the wall I froze. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Jacoby?" I asked quietly.

His eyes caught mine and his smirk turned into a smile. His eyes changed from their bad boy cover to the friendly, trusting eyes, that had held mine so many times. His hand flew to his mouth, disbelief covering his face. I knew the feeling, was he really here? Was it really him or was it another flashback, if so it was terribly unfair and horrible timing.

"Cam." His voice brought me back. Everything he ever said to me came rushing back as did his laugh.

"Jacoby!" I exclaiming running to him and throwing my arms around him. I held him as tight as I possibly could, pulling us as close as we could possibly be. He nuzzled his face in my neck as I put my fingers through his hair.

"Is it really you?" He asked. I felt something wet hit my neck and knew that, as hard as he was trying not to, he was crying.

"What do you mean is it really me? Is it really you?" I countered as I pulled back to look at his face. He was holding me so tightly I didn't think he would ever let me go. I never wanted him to let go.

"Yes, yes it's really me. I've been trying to find you for over a month Cam, you weren't kidding when you said your school was obscure." He said with a laughing twinkle in his eye. He chuckled and looked me over, up and down, once more. "Are you doing okay?"

"Yes, I'm wonderful." I replied with a smile.

"Don't believe a word she says, she's been injured and abused and bullied and has had more nightmares than anyone should ever have in their life." Bex informed him.

"Bex!" I exclaimed.

"He would've figured it out eventually." Bex grumbled.

"Cammie? Is she serious? Where does it hurt?" Jacoby asked concerned, checking me for bruises and cuts and breaks. He stopped short when he noticed the bruises and cuts under my makeup. "Who did this? I'll kill him."

"I like this guy." Grant commented as he wrapped an arm around Bex. "We can keep him."

"So glad you approve." I muttered as Jacoby gently continued his inspection.

"Seriously Cam," Jacoby forced me to look in his eyes, "How are you?"

"Better now that you're here." I said truthfully. "And you?" It was my turn to be concerned.

"Now that I know you're okay...I don't think I've ever been better. But you have a lot to tell me, don't you _Bella?_ " Jacob threw an arm around my shoulder and walked me into the bowling alley.

"Indeed I do, _mon nounours_." I giggled at his expression.

"And the absolutely horrible nickname hasn't grown old yet…" He chuckled with me, I think he really liked the nickname no matter what he said.

Jacoby and I laughed and joked in french and italian while the others ordered our lane and rented shoes for all of us (to Macey's horror) then settled in the back corner at our own table to talk things out before joining the others in the game.

"Okay, _mon beau,_ tell me everything." He said, eyes locked on mine.

So, because it was Jacoby, I did. I told him about the exchange, missing my sisters, how my summer ended, Zach, The Bulldozers, the classes at Blackthorne, the two days of shopping I was forced to endure, the extent of my injuries, my nightmares, I even told him about Grant and I. He's a great listener but not the kind of listener that sits silently he was the kind of listener that reacts to things as I said them. He had a lot to say about the Bulldozers and Zach. we talked far too long about me before I finally got to ask about him.

He told me about his family and his school (sorry, classified I'm not allowed to disclose details). He told me how he'd been getting help to get over what happened the past summer and he really likes his therapist. He told me about his friends and how he didn't have to escape from his school to come here because his parent's just pulled him out for a few days. He told me how Liz and Jonas had found him and begged him to come see me but they didn't have to beg long because he had been looking for me too.

"So, in short, your life is infinitely more interesting than mine." He told me after he finished updating me on what had happened in the past six weeks.

"I assure you, your life is preferable to mine." I said with a small smile. " I still can't believe you're here."

"I still can't believe it's actually you." Jacoby reached out and caressed my cheek softly. "It's my Cammie."

"It's your Cammie." I reached up and grabbed his hand and held it close to me.

"Do you guys want to come and play now?" Nick called from where my friends had just finished their first game.

"Yeah I guess." Jacoby replied as he pulled me up and dragged me to the lane.

Bowling was awesome. I totally lost but I had fun losing. I felt relaxed with all my friends and Jacoby there. I thought the only thing that could make it better was Zach untill...untill that's exactly what I got.

I was sitting on the bench next to Jacoby, his arm around my shoulders while I leaned into his chest. Grant was up with a 10 pound ball in his hand when Zach made himself known.

"What's going on here Cam?" Zach's voice came from behind me. I whirled around to see not only Zach, but Chase and Micah as well.

"Zach." I said slightly stunned to see him.

"Oh, this is Zach? Sup man, I'm Jacoby." Jacoby held out his hand but Zach didn't even flinch. He was staring straight at me. "Not a handshake guy, that's cool, that's cool."

"Zach, man, what are you doing here?" Nick asked, he and Macey joining us with the others right behind.

"Looking for my girlfriend. Imagine my surprise to find her all cuddled up with another guy. I thought you weren't cheating on me, Cam?" Zach turned his statement into a question, an open invitation for an explanation.

"I'm not!" I jumped away from Jacoby and held my hands up in surrender. "He's a friend, I met him this summer, it's not like that-"

"Oh spare me the crap Cammie, I've been watching you guys for over an hour. The way you greeted each other, that's not how I greet my friends, yet…" He shook his head.

"Whoa, whoa, I don't mean to cause any problems here." Jacoby tried to intervene. "I promise man, I'm not moving in on your girl here. I promise, Cammie and I are just friends. Scout's honor."

"Forgive me if I'm not inclined to believe you." Zach growled, glaring at Jacoby.

"Zach, what is this really about? You've been weird for weeks now-" Grant tried to talk to his best friend but was cut off.

"He's been weird for weeks now because his girl has been cheating on him for weeks now with this poser." Chase cut in vehemently.

"What? NO!" I yelled, forcing Zach to look at me. "Zach, you know me, I would never do that to you. You have to believe me I'm not cheating on you!"

"Says the girl that kissed your best friend and didn't tell you." Chase whispered in his ear.

"Chase, YOU kissed ME and you know it! Zach I told you the truth about that!" I defended.

"Oh, this is the jerk that's been hitting you?" Jacoby was practically steaming. "You're dead my friend."

I jumped in front of Jacoby as Nick and Grant grabbed him from behind.

"Jacoby, no. Not here, he's not worth it." I tried to calm him down, my hands on his chest to keep him from charging.

"Look at how she touches him, you've already seen how comfortable she is with him." Micah twisted everything around.

"No! Zach, I'm not cheating on you, not with Jacoby, not with Chase, not with anybody! I'm not cheating on you!" I dropped my hands off Jacoby and spun around to look at Zach. If I stayed in front of Jacoby he wouldn't charge in case he hurt me.

"I don't believe you Cam." Zach shook his head.

I tried to keep the tears that threatened to spill from leaving my eyes.

"Zach, I promise, I swear to you I am not cheating on you! Why don't you believe me? What do I need to do to make you believe me?" I begged.

"Leave with me." Zach said shortly. He gestured around. "Leave all these guys behind and leave with me. Be happy with me Cam. It's either that, or I'm done"

"Okay." I glanced over my shoulder once. My friends would understand wouldn't they? "Okay, let's go."

"Cam…" Grant said, trying to tell me something with his eyes.

"I'll see you guys back at school." I angrily wiped my eye once and crossed over to Zach. He wrapped an arm around my waist and grabbed my face with his other hand. He kissed me possessively before pulling me from the bowling alley. I'll never forget the look on my friends faces.

On the drive back to Blackthorne, Zach held me tightly in his lap, kissing my neck. I tried to ignore the nibbling on my skin and didn't think about the red mark it would surely leave. Chase watched with a disgusting smile on his face from the seat across from ours. Every so often Micah would glance at us in the rear view mirror and duplicated the look on Chase's face.

"You made the right choice, Gallagher Girl." Zach whispered to me quietly.

Then why did I feel so wrong?

As soon as we reached Blackthorne I jumped out of the van and began to hurry back to my room, feeding them some lie about a headache. I thought I was in the clear until Chase suggested he should walk me back to my room.

"Wouldn't want her to get hurt on the way up." He offered.

"Great idea man, thanks." Zach kissed me lightly before handing me over to Chase.

I set the pace for our walk back to my room and I was practically running. I have never been so tense in my life. Why did Zach have to think this was a good idea? Why couldn't our room be closer to the grand hall? I've never been so grateful to see the halls full of people but my luck couldn't hold out forever. The second there was no one else in sight, he slammed me against the wall. I sharply inhaled as I tried to fight the sudden pain.

"Careful there love, or I won't be able to restrain myself. Now listen here girlie, you are going to play nice with our boy Zach, right? You are going to be the perfect girlfriend and make our boy smile again. Do you want to know how I know you're going to do this? Because I am going to be watching you, carefully, closely, and I will be there at every corner, in every shadow, and you will never rest easy because you will know that the second you screw up I will be there to make you regret it. Got it?" He carefully caressed my cheek. "Got it?"

"Got it." I replied, trying to keep myself from crying.

He pressed a kiss to my lips. "Good."

He let go of my arms and turned to go back to the grand hall. I let out a breath as soon as he turned the corner and was out of sight. I dropped to the floor and curled myself into a ball and just started to sob.

I didn't want to move. I didn't want to cry. I didn't want to not cry. I didn't want to see anyone and I didn't want to be alone. I felt numb. Realistically I knew that I was in pain and I knew that I needed to leave the hallway but I just...couldn't.

"Cammie? Cammie!" Macey's voice went from curious to shrill and panicked as she caught sight of me.

"Oh my gosh Cam, Cam, look at me." That was Bex, she grabbed me and tried to make me look her in the eyes but I couldn't bring myself to do it. After I left her and the others behind for that...that jerk!

"CAMMIE!" Jacoby yelled as he pushed Bex out of the way and grabbed me. "Cam, I need you to look at me, _mon cheri_ , please. Please."

"I...I can't. I'm sorry." I sobbed and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Jacoby rocked back and forth shushing me, telling me I don't need to apologize, telling me it was okay. I don't know how long I sat there in the hall with my friends but I do know when I finally came to and realized what had just happened, I wanted to cry some more.

"You guys...I'm so sorry." I whispered but Jacoby stopped me before I could continue.

"Cameron Ann Morgan I need you to look at me. Look at me." Jacoby grabbed my face gently and looked me right in the eye. "This is not your fault, no, Cam I'm serious. It's me Cam, we've been to through so much together and you know that I want what's best for you. Cammie as your teddy bear I need you to trust me and know that I love you when I tell you to break up with that guy you call your boyfriend."

"What…?" I asked confused. "How is that going to fix anything?"

"Cam, do you realize what just happened at the bowling alley back there? He gave you an ultimatum. What kind of relationship has ultimatums? What kind of person that cares about you would make you do that?" Jacoby was starting to make sense. "Cam, please, for your own sake...please Cam."

"I...I don't know." I looked to Macey, Bex, and Liz. One glance at their face and I knew that they agreed with him. "I really...Grant?"

"I agree with him Cam." He didn't look happy about that. "He's my best friend and I love him but I also love you and...he's not good for you Cam. I think he's right."

I looked to Macey, always and forever our resident boy expert.

"What do I do now?" I whispered, trying not to cry.

"I think you know what you have to do Cam...you need to break up with him." She replied quietly, taking my hand.

"When?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

"The sooner the better." She replied, tears filling her eyes. "I'm sorry Cam, I'm so so sorry."

"It's not your fault." I told her grabbing her other hand, tears filling my own eyes at the sight of hers. "None of this is your fault Mace."

"You two had better knock it off, because now Liz is crying-awww man now I'm gonna cry." Bex sniffled as she and Liz knelt with us.

I laughed slightly as I wrapped my friends in a hug.

"Cammie?" Zach's voice came from down the hall and the dread filled me all over again. I hated what I was about to do. "There you are. Cam, what has been up with you recently-"

"We need to break up, Zach." I whispered. I know he heard me.

"What?" He replied quietly. For the first time in a long time, he didn't seem mad.

"It's not working." I choked out.

"Will you guys give us a minute?" Zach asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Zach-" Macey began.

"No, no, no. No, you guys need to leave you need to give us a minute to talk this out because something is wrong here, you guys told her something that made her hate me and I need to fix, I have to fix this because it's not Cammie, it's not my Cammie you did something to her and I need to figure out what to say to bring my Cammie back because I need my Cammie so you guys need to leave so I can talk to Cammie and we can figure this out, Cam I know we can figure this out you don't mean it Cam, I know you don't mean it." He rambled on as the tears fell down my face and I huddled against the wall.

"Zach...it's over." I whispered, I couldn't even look at him.

He shoved Macey and Bex out of the way and grabbed my face and made me look him in the eye. I wanted to think I saw a tear form but I knew it was just my own. I was surprised there wasn't a trace of anger in his eyes for the first time in weeks...maybe I was being hasty. No...no this was the right decision. Wasn't it?

"No, Cammie it can't be over it just started. Don't do this Cam." He begged.

"I'm sorry Zach." I cried.

"Who is it Cam? Who told you such horrible things about me that you don't want to be with me anymore, let me go find them and make them see sense. I promise we can work this out Cam if you just tell me what it is Cam...just tell me what it is. Let me fix this." He pled with me.

"No one said anything to me Zach. It was what I saw. It was how you acted with me and how you didn't act with me. You say I'm not your Cammie and that someone did something to make me not your Cammie anymore and maybe that's true but you're not my Zach anymore either...I don't know where my Zach went and I want him back. You're just not him. I miss my Zach. I can't cheat on my Zach with this fake Zach. You're not him and I can't do this to my Zach. I'm so sorry. I really...I just can't do this. It's over Zach." I didn't think it was possible to cry this much.

"Gallagher girl…" He wiped away my tears and just for a second I saw a flash of my Zach. Then Chase came around the corner and the second I caught sight of him I flinched back as far as I could and curled into the fetal position the best I could, my eyes squeezed shut.

"We have to go Zach." Macey said gently as she eased me out of the fetal position and pulled me to my feet. She tucked me under her shoulder and Bex came around to my other side and they supported me as we walked down the hall towards the Gallagher Girls common room.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I had stopped when I reached the entrance to my mom's office, listening to the boy's argument. Bex shook me out of my daze and reminded me of the task at hand.

"Well that was intense." Bex said quietly.

"No joke." I agreed as I pushed open the door to the office, careful of debris that might fall in and alert them to my presence.

"Are you in?" Bex asked.

"Yeah."

"What was intense?" Macey asked, all the sudden popping into the conversation.

"Long story, will explain later." Bex replied. "What do you see?"

"My mom's office." I replied cheekily.

"Why thank you." Macey replied sarcastically.

"Gimme a minute I'll let you know if I see anything out of the ordinary."

I quickly but efficiently made my way around my mom's office, being careful to cover my tracks. I checked all her favorite hiding places and any other place that looked like it might have something promising in it.

"Bingo." I said quietly.

"What'd you find?" Macey asked.

"A field request with a date from just last month." I replied as I began skimming it. "This request doesn't make any sense, there are no mission details."

"Cam, get out now. Someone's coming." Bex said quickly and I hurriedly closed the file and put it back exactly where I found it and ran to the passage.

The door shut behind me just as I heard the lock turn to open the office door. I waited in suspense for whoever had entered the office to leave before hurrying down the passageway back to meet with the rest of the girls.

I made it back to the room without a single soul even detecting my presence and the second I passed over the threshold the door was slammed and locked behind me.

"What'd you find?" Macey asked hurriedly.

"Whoa where's the fire?" I asked at their hurried expressions.

"We overheard someone in the hall talking about our escape." Mick explained.

"Well did you guys even bother to check with the boys to see if it's true?" I asked, hand on hip in my "Abby" pose.

They looked at each other to see if someone was smart enough to ask. When no one answered I hit the call button on the com unit in my ear and waited for one of them to reply.

"Turn your coms on so we can all hear what they say." Macey instructed as she flipped her com on.

While we waited, I updated them on what I had found.

"Well she's definitely on a mission. One that's pretty hush hush too. The start dates were years ago so she must have been petitioning for this for a while. The weird thing though was that the descriptions were vague at best. All I could gather before I had to split was that she's off in the middle of nowhere doing who knows what and the threat level is low but the security risk was high." I told them quickly.

"Anything about personal risk?" Jacoby asked.

"Not that I could find." I replied with a frustrated shrug. "I wish I had more time with the file."

"Well that helps more than what we knew before." Courtney pointed out.

"Why aren't the boys answering?" Eva asked, anxiously.

"Who knows. They're probably still at breakfast." Bex replied with a snort.

"Yeah but one of them should've left to see what was up." Macey pointed out.

That thought chilled me to the bone. It's obvious that if anyone had found us missing Grant, Nick, and Jonas would be the first group they would approach to figure out where we were. I knew Solomon would do whatever necessary to get information out of them.

We sat anxiously in silence but it wasn't long until the girls lost their patience. Bex was the first to give up all hope. Her leg began to bounce and Mick fell next as her fingers began to tap her knee. Eva laid on the floor and Kim laid her head on her lap. Anna curled up in the corner and Liz opened her laptop. Courtney began braiding Tina's hair and Tina began picking at something invisible under her nails. Macey busied herself pressing the call button every 30 seconds. Almost two hours later we finally got an answer.

"One of you had better be dead." Grant's voice came angrily through the unit.

"Where have you been?" I replied in the same tone.

"Stuck in the van with Solomon on our way to who knows where on a 'field trip'." I could practically hear Nick rolling his eyes.

"How long have you been in the van?" Mick asked.

"Since we hung up." Grant replied.

"Jonas?" Liz asked for a better time count.

"Approximately two and a half hours." Jonas replied.

We all looked at each other and simultaneously replied giving them their destination.

"Gallagher." We voiced in unison.

"Whoa. That was creepy." Nick said surprised.

"How fast is he going?" Liz asked, trying to figure out their ETA.

"At least 140 with inconstant speed fluctuations." Jonas told her.

"He's basically cut the travel time in half." Liz half whispered. "You'll be here before noon."

"So I get the feeling Solomon knows we're gone." Mick said sarcastically.

"That means the rumors heard in the hall were true." Tina added.

"Meaning we have to go. Now." Macey said jumping to her feet. "Cam do you know somewhere we can hide out?"

"Of course. Plain sight or in the shadows?" I asked.

"Plain sight." Grant answered for her. "I want to be able to find you and talk with you."

"Grant where does Solomon think you are?" Bex asked.

"I may or may not have given Grant a bloody nose so Solomon would let us get off the bus and into a bathroom at a gas station." Nick answered quietly.

"You guys! Go back to the bus and act like everything is normal then call us when you get to Roseville." Macey instructed.

"You guys get out of there and quick. I can't imagine getting caught by the faculty will go well." Grant pointed.

"Got it. Now get lost." I said as I switched the com off and jumped to my feet. "Come on girls, this way."

Jacoby stuck to my side as we led the girls down the hall and back to the same passage we had used to get into the school. We decided to get to the van and change into something casual and wander around town. We jogged to the van and quickly slipped into our change of clothes. Jacoby stood guard. As soon as we had changed we hid the van as best we could and locked it before walking down the road towards the town's center.

"So anyone wanna place bets on how long it will take Josh to find Cammie?" Bex joked and I groaned.

"We are not seriously dragging this up again. Can't we just let it die?" I begged.

"Wait, Josh Abrams? The civi?" Jacoby asked, amused. "This is seriously still a thing?"

"This will always be a thing. It's too funny to let it die. Not to mention I can't think of a single time we've gone into town in the past year that he hasn't found you." Macey laughed.

"Okay, I give him...an hour." Mick predicted.

"I say two." Eva said thoughtfully.

"I predict it will be before noon." Kim said after some quick calculations.

"I agree with Kim." Liz said with a smile.

I groaned once more.

"I think it will be within the first half hour." Jacoby said with a laugh.

"You guys suck. I hope you're all wrong." I grumbled.

"Oh come on Cam, it's kinda funny." Courtney giggled.

"What are you guys gonna do if he actually does find me?" I questioned.

"Abandon you to the awkward." Bex replied quickly.

"Thanks Bex. I knew I could count on you." I gave her a glare.

"Don't worry Cam, I'll be your fake boyfriend." Jacoby said throwing an arm around my shoulders.

"Or you could be my fake girlfriend, Cam." Anna offered. "That would be a laugh."

I had to admit the idea was kind of hilarious.

"Let's just hope we don't run into him. Or any of his friends." I added as an afterthought.

"Don't worry Cam, with all of us keeping an eye out we should be able to avoid him." Tina said reassuringly.

"Thanks Tina. At least I know who my real friends are." I teased while throwing a playful glare Bex's way.

"Watch your back Tina, I'm possessive." Bex joked.

"I can take you Baxter." Tina replied flexing her biceps.

We all burst into laughter. Being away from Blackthorne was doing wonders for me. Being away from Zach, and the threat of Chase, and the leering glances that followed us everywhere was amazing. I finally felt like I could breathe again. All my problems seemed smaller from here. I knew as soon as I went back it would be horrible all over again but for now I was free and that's all I needed.

We continued joking and chatting until we reached main street and then we decided it would be best to split up and use our coms to keep connected. I split off with Jacoby, Macey and Tina left to window shop, Bex and Mick went to get something to eat, Liz, Kim, and Eva went to find some place with free wifi, and Anna and Courtney wandered around the square.

As we walked around the town, Jacoby and I made up stories for the people we saw.

"Okay, that lady is definitely in a hurry." I pointed to the woman in heels and business attire running across the street.

"What are you thinking? Late to meet her boyfriend?" Jacoby asked.

"I was thinking more along the lines of trying to find a bathroom." He tilted his head back and let out a huge laugh. It was good to see him acting carefree.

Suddenly, a car flew around the corner and glass shattered as it hit the light post. I immediately jumped up on Jacoby and wrapped my legs around his waist and grabbed his head in both my hands, forcing him to look me in the eye.

His pupils were dilating and his breathing increased as he held onto me. I slowed my breathing and tried to keep it calm as I knew he would be only taking breaths when I did. If I was calm, Jacoby would be too.

"Cam." He whispered as he fought the urge to run and hide. Breaking glass was one of his triggers.

"Shhh, it's okay. It's all going to be okay. You're safe. We're safe. We're in Roseville remember? He can't get to you anymore." I reminded him as I stroked his hair. He began to shake and I knew he was losing himself to flashbacks. I had to think of something to call him back.

"Hey, remember that time we pranked Matt? Remember the shaving cream and the red hots?" I asked and he slowly shook his yes. "Tell me what we did. Tell me what happened."

"We...we filled his shoes with shaving cream. He thought it was hilarious and it sparked a prank war. He snuck red hots into our water bottles and when we took a water break at training you spit your water all over Brandon." A smile twitched at his face. "We got an extra 20 laps but it was worth it. We laughed for days over it. We never got Mark back."

"Right. He made it up to us though, do you remember? Do you remember what he did to make it up to us?" I asked slowly as his breathing calmed down.

"His mom sent him twinkies. It somehow made it in and he gave us one to split. You gave me the bigger half." He said with a smile and opened his eyes.

"You bet your buttons I did." I grinned at him as I hopped off of him and pulled him down the street. "You need a donut my friend."

We made our way down to the grocery store hoping to grab a donut from the bakery but ended up buying a box of twinkies instead. We sat on a bench outside the store in the shade and Jacoby curled himself around me, still recovering from his almost panic attack. After about 30 minutes in one place we agreed we had to move on but I made Jacoby promise he would stop me if he needed a break.

We ambled down main street and I showed him the pavilion I used to meet Josh at and the loose rock in the structure where we used to hide notes to each other. Imagine my surprise when there was a note in the little hole.

"Whoa, brother needs to move on. What does it say?" Jacoby asked anxiously, pulling the note from me and opening it. He cleared his throat and read it in a high pitched falsetto voice "'Cammie, We need to talk. Meet me here at 4:00 on Thursday.' Wow I wonder how long this has been sitting there."

"Not long enough." I quickly took the note back and folded it up again before putting it back.

"What are you thinking Cam?" Jacoby asked as we moved along.

"I'm really glad it's not Thursday." I rolled my eyes and we made guesses as to what Josh wanted to tell me.

"Maybe he wants to confess his undying love to you." Jacoby joked.

"Maybe he wants to have a torrid affair." I smiled.

"Maybe he's pregnant with your child." I gave him a look.

"You know I think that's definitely it. You've cracked it Jacoby, he's pregnant." I laughed at the thought.

"What if his memory came back?" Jacoby teased.

"Oh don't even joke about that!" I exclaimed punching his arm. "I would crawl into a hole and die."

"No need for the dramatics, you could just move in with me." He offered while rubbing his bicep.

"Yeah, cause that would make everything better." I said sarcastically.

"I think it would, it'd be fun." Jacoby grinned before throwing his arm around my shoulders.

We walked around for a little while longer before deciding to go and get food with Courtney and Anna. We ate our burgers and joked around with each other for almost an hour and it was a lot of fun. Jacoby got along well with Courtney and Anna and they seemed to really like him. I was glad, Jacoby wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"Guys." Grant's voice shut us all up at once.

"Where are you?" I replied quietly.

"Some mall or something." Nick replied.

"Do you have parameters or can you wander?" Macey asked.

"We were told to stick to the area." Jonas replied.

"We'll come to you then. Girls, meet up at Tina's favorite store." Macey ordered.

We quickly jumped to our feet and made it to shopping square. Tina's favorite store was a tiny little boutique in the southern corner of the shopping area. We ran into the store and picked up a few items of clothing each (Jacoby looked rather hilarious holding skirts) before squishing all four of us into a changing room.

"Ready when you are." I whispered into the com unit and suddenly Bex popped her head under the stall door into our changing room.

"Come on." Bex ushered us all out of the changing room and through the back door into the back office.

Macey and the others were waiting for us and they quickly locked the door behind us.

"Grant, are you with Nick and Jonas?" Macey asked.

"Yeah." He replied quickly. "Zach's following us though. Solomon told the others that we were trying to tail you girls but we had to find you first. Zach assumes we know where you are."

"Well then you're going to have to shake him. We'll meet you at the diner across the street when you're free." Macey instructed before directing us to all get to our feet.

"Wait, Jim's diner?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah, why?" Macey wondered.

"That's where the townies hang out." I reminded her.

"Chill Cam, they're in school." Bex reminded me.

"You're playing with fate." I warned them.

"We'll cross that bridge if we get to it." Macey shrugged it off.

"Don't worry _mon amore_ , I'll protect you." Jacoby teased, kissing my cheek.

" _Merci, mon nounours."_ I relished in his display of affection. I had missed his easy way of touching me and making it seem casual. I never felt uncomfortable when Jacoby touched me, but I guess that's a side effect of him being the only person to touch me kindly in a place where abuse is the only form of affection.

We made our way to the diner across the street and we all filed into one booth. You could tell the waitress recognized us as Gallagher girls because she didn't look to excited to serve us. She was polite however and we did our best to be kind while still upholding our covers. We ordered a few baskets of fries and drinks while we waited for Grant, Jonas, and Nick to find us. We chatted about trivial things like clothing and celebrities. Bex and I made a game of trying to shoot fries into each others mouths. Jacoby played with my hair but mostly stayed quiet. He doesn't like large groups.

"We lost him. On our way over." Grant said briefly in the coms and we began to ready ourselves to leave. We paid our bill and left a generous tip. We sipped our drinks nervously and just when I thought we were going to get away with it, disaster struck.

"Cammie?" Josh's voice came from over by the front door. I glared at every single one of the Gallagher girls.

"You guys jinxed me!" I accused them as the tried to swallow their laughter. Even Jacoby was sporting a smile.

"Cam?" Josh was walking to our table.

"Hey Josh." Why oh why does this happen to me? What did I do? I am a good person. Why do I have to be tortured so?

"Yeah I thought that was you...I've been looking for you but the other Gallagher girls said you were on some exchange?" Josh asked as he stood awkwardly by our table.

"Yeah, I am. We all are actually, we're here on a field trip." I told him, trying to hurry this conversation along.

"Oh...well...I've been meaning to talk to you. Can I talk to you?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Dude, you are." Jacoby said with a chuckle from beside me.

"Alone." Josh amended.

"Oh well, um...I don't really think that's-" I was saved from having to make an excuse by Grant's sudden appearance.

"Hey guys, what's up? Who's this?" Grant asked pointing at Josh.

"Josh." Bex said with amusement in her eyes.

"Oh." And with that Grant whirled around and punched Josh squarely in the jaw.

We all jumped up and ran out of the diner before the police could show up. I knew Josh would be okay, someone would give him ice and take him to the doctor.

"Oh my word Grant, I can't believe you did that!" Liz exclaimed as she grabbed Jonas' hand while they ran.

"I told Cam I would the next time I saw him!" Grant defended from his place next to Bex.

"I didn't think you were serious!" I yelled back to him.

Nick had yet to stop laughing and Macey was hopelessly pulling him along beside her. The Gallagher girls giggled as they followed me to one of my favorite in-town hiding places. We reached the empty office space.

I hurried to lock the door behind us and ushered everyone away from the windows. I looked at all my friends in piles on the floor and burst into laughter causing everyone else to laugh with me. I collapsed onto Jacoby's lap as the giggles finally slowed to a stop.

"I can't believe you did that." I told Grant.

"I told you I was going to!" He defended.

"I honestly didn't think you would. I thought it was just one of those things you said but never did." I chuckled.

"Hey, I'm a man of my word." Grant puffed out his chest when suddenly the lock behind us started to turn. Someone was coming in.

"Cam, who owns this place?" Macey asked anxiously.

"The city, it's been out of commision for years. It's not up to code." I told the quickly as we huddled in the corner.

The lock turned and the door opened. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw who it was.

"Chill guys, it's just Zach." I told the rest of them and they all fell back to their positions on the floor. I walked up to him and when Jacoby saw where I was going he joined me.

"Zach, what are you doing here?" I asked him, arms folded, Jacoby at my shoulder.

"Looking for you guys. I get the feeling we aren't in Roseville just to brush up on the basics." He told me stiffly.

"How did you find us?" Jacoby asked.

"It wasn't hard. You took off at 100 miles an hour from the diner, I noticed." He told Jacoby cruelly.

"Yeah but you were supposed to stick to the shopping square." Bex mentioned.

"I have trackers on Grant, Jonas, and Nick. I didn't even really need to follow you." He admitted. The boys groaned.

"What do you want?" I asked him while the girls helped our three stooges find the trackers.

"To know why we're really in Roseville." He told me, catching my eye and refusing to let me look away. "I know you Cammie, you ran off to find something and I want to help."

"What if I don't want your help?" No use denying it, he knew me too well.

"Then I'll figure out what you're trying to find and find it myself." He growled and Jacoby pulled me behind him.

"Watch it." Jacoby snarled at Zach.

"How do you suppose you'll figure out what we're looking for?" I questioned Zach, ignoring the flood of testosterone.

"Oh just tell him Cam, what harm could it do? He likes knowing things more than he likes telling things." Bex eventually yelled.

"We're trying to find my mom. Something's wrong at Gallagher and she's nowhere to be found. We're here to help our sisters so if you can't get behind that then get out." I turned away from him and went to sit by the others. Jacoby stuck close by me and curled himself around me once I sat.

"So what did you find in her office?" Nick asked once Zach decided he would join us.

"A field request. A whole file of field requests going back years, she really wanted to go somewhere but someone didn't think it was a good idea. Low threat level but high security risk. Nothing on personal risk. She must've finally gotten it approved." I told the guys.

"What about a projected end date?" Nick asked.

"There wasn't one. It was indefinite." I told them hopelessly.

"There wasn't anything on mission objective or a statement of purpose?" Grant asked.

"If there was it was buried somewhere deep in the file." I shrugged my shoulders. Jacoby picked up on my stress and began to play with my hair. Zach stiffened.

"Didn't you get pictures of the file or something?" Zach asked.

"We didn't have the time or the means." Bex responded quickly.

Without another word Zach got up and left the building.

"Why?" Is all I could manage to ask. "How often does he do this?"

"Far too often." Grant replied.

"How long do you think we have unto Solomon calls us back?" Nick asked.

"Probably the rest of the afternoon. He really needs to find the girls." Jonas replied.

"Do you think we should go tell him where we are?" Mick suggested.

"Where's the fun in that?" Kim asked. "He's gonna find us eventually-"

"Mick's point exactly, why beat around the bush?" Courtney responded.

"Do we have any real reason to continue evading him?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, we still haven't found out where the headmistress is and the girls at Gallagher are still scared. We have to help them." Mick pointed out.

"Well what else can we do?" I asked.

"That's the question, isn't it. Anyone have any bright ideas?" Macey wondered.

"Cam, you could probably just straight up ask Buckingham. Doesn't next of kin have some sort of right to inquire after the health and status of an agent in the field?" Tina asked.

"Yeah but I'm not supposed to know she's out in the field. How do we explain that?" I countered.

"We could say Solomon told you." Jonas suggested.

"There's no way he would do that though...they would confirm with Solomon." Bex reminded us.

"Well what else can we do?" Kim asked, frustrated.

Everyone looked at me, expectantly. I thought about it for a few minutes. What else could we do? We tried breaking in and find answers for ourselves, we could ask someone, we could try to find my mom ourselves but if there's one thing we could do that would get us caught for sure it would be leaving the country. We needed to help the girls feel more secure. We needed to help our sisters feel more safe in our home. How could we do that without arousing suspicion?

"Well...we could suggest some longer training sessions? We could check security, any number of those things to make sure that they feel more secure. I just can't figure out why they're so frightened of my mom being gone, she's been gone before. Do you think...maybe they know why she's gone and want us to find a way to bring her back?" I suggested.

"Maybe they're scared to tell you where she is?" Tina added.

"Maybe they just want you back at Gallagher?" Jacoby suggested.

"Why would they though?" I asked.

"Maybe they heard about the attacks and don't want us to get hurt?" Kim thought outloud.

"How would they have found out?" Tina asked.

I suddenly noticed how quiet Eva had been throughout the exchange. Uncharacteristically quiet.

"Eva, what are you thinking?" I questioned.

"Well...I may have told Maria about the attacks." She admitted sheepishly.

"Eva!" Kim exclaimed.

"I had to! I was so scared for you guys and there was nothing I could to protect you and I asked them for help so we could try to find a way to get us all home!" Eva sobbed. "I just want to go home, I'm sick of Blackthorne, I miss Gallagher! I hate having to watch my back all the time and wondering how long it's going to take for the other boys to crack and to attack us-or worse! I'm so sick of being so terrified all the time! I don't want to train to be an assassin anymore, I just...I just want to go back to Gallagher."

I haven't seen Eva so upset in a long time. Tears rolled down her face as she passionately explained her point of view.

"Eva...we all want to go home, but there's no way that's going to happen. We're stuck until the headmistress gets back…" Tina pointed out.

"Let's go." Macey said jumping to her feet.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we hurried to follow her.

"I'm tired of feeling like I have no say in my life. It's our education, we should get to choose whether or not we stay at Blackthorne. We should get to say that we want to go back to Gallagher." Macey explained. "We're going to talk to Solomon."

We followed the boy's directions to the Blackthorne van and Macey rapped on the back of the van. After doing so she hurried to step back in line with the rest of us and we grasped each other's hands.

"Girls." Solomon said tersely. "How nice of you to come out of hiding."

"We want to go back to Gallagher Mr. Solomon. We're done with this exchange, we're done with Blackthorne." Macey declared.

His expression moved to a slightly more concerned one.

"You're giving up?" Solomon asked.

"We're calling uncle. Tapping out. Waving the white flag of surrender. We can't do this anymore Mr. Solomon. We don't belong at Blackthorne, we're sick of fearing for our lives and the lives of our sisters every hour of the day. We want to go home and finish out the semester at Gallagher." Bex explained.

"Girls...I know why you want to go home, truly I do however...we chose you girls specifically for this task. There's a reason we didn't chose girls from the younger years to go to Blackthorne, and there's a reason we chose you specifically for this exchange. You girls can do this, you can beat these boys, you can make it through the semester. I know you can. You girls are strong, you were born and bred for this. You're trained for this...you're Gallagher Girls. If you let these Blackthorne Boys beat you, you will never be able to face yourselves or your counterparts again. Don't give up, not when you're so close."

He was right. Of course he was, he's Solomon. I had to do this...besides Blackthorne wasn't so bad, I found Grant again, I had bonded with my sisters, and besides...this was my dad's school. If he could do it, then so could I. I looked back at Grant and he smiled at me gently.

I kept hold of my sisters hands but stepped forward slightly.

"I'll stay." I declared.

"So will I." Tina declared moving forward with me.

"Me too." Kim agreed.

"I'll stay." Bex stated.

"I guess I'll stay." Macey said.

"If they're staying, so am I." Liz said fiercely.

"I'll stay." Mick said a little unsure.

"I'm staying." Courtney too moved forward.

"I'll go back to Blackthorne." Anna declared.

We all looked back at Eva, silently begging her to come with us. After another moment's thought she too stepped forward.

"Gallagher Girls have to stick together. I'll go back." She said with a small smile and we all pulled each other into a great group hug.

"Gillian would be proud of you girls." Solomon declared before pulling open the door of the van for us to climb in.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The drive back to Blackthorne was a fast one. I'm pretty sure Solomon was going for a new world record for fastest miles traveled. I managed to snag a spot next to Jacoby and it didn't take him long to fall asleep on my shoulder. I listened to Macey and Bex's conversation for a while before becoming so utterly bored that I woke up Jacoby just to have someone to talk to.

"Hey, entertain me." I said shaking my shoulder to wake him up.

He completely ignored me and pulled my head down onto his lap.

"Shhhh, go to sleep." He whispered.

"I'm not tired." I argued.

"Shhhh." He said falling asleep once more.

I knew I was dreaming the second I saw Mark.

"Hey there squirt, how's it hanging?" He asked as we made our way to the arena.

"Just taking it one step at a time Kujo, just like everyone else." I teased with a grin.

We heard the alarm go off and looked at each other in terror before sprinting the rest of the way to the arena. We hurried to our place in line and exhaled in relief when we saw that our instructor wasn't there yet. As soon as he appeared we hurried to wrap our hands and made our way into the ring.

I remembered this day well. It was the first day after Bex left. The first day I was seriously punished.

We were paired up and of course I was with Jacoby. We made our way through the motions. We practiced the moves we were taught and stayed silent except for small grunts when punched in the gut. Suddenly Jacoby decided that he was bored and he was going to switch up the routine a bit. He waited until the instructor was looking and instead of punching me he tickled me.

I instinctively laughed but my smile dropped quickly when the instructor whirled around with a murderous glare on his face. Quickly Jacoby and I went back to the exercises and the instructor didn't say anything. Jacoby and I let out a sigh of relief.

A few minutes later we switched partners and I began working with Jay. Sparing with Jay was too easy, he didn't have as much previous training as I did. He knew this and resented me for it. I wasn't even trying and I was pummeling him.

The day passed quickly and it wasn't long before we were excused to the showers. I was the only girl left in the program at this point and I loved having the locker room to myself but I missed the chatter of my friends.

I showered swiftly and was on my way to change when I heard someone coming towards me. I assumed it was one of the instructors but I was very very wrong.

Jay came around a row of lockers with a small pipe in hand. He gave me no chance to defend myself as he began beating me with the pipe. I screamed and fought him off the best I could in my towel. It wasn't long before someone came to my rescue but imagine my surprise when I was told I was requested in the General's office as well. I was given time to change into uniform, shorts and sports bra seeing as I was female, before I was ushered to meet with the General.

"So Miss Morgan. Do you know why I called you here?" He asked.

"No sir." I replied quickly, eyes on the floor.

"Come now Miss Morgan surely you have some idea." He chuckled.

"No sir." I replied once more.

"You're telling me that you're so idiotic that you don't even know that I called here to beat your incompetence out of you." He gripped my chin and threw me to the ground before kicking my thigh. He knew how to hurt me so it wouldn't cause permanent damage but it would cause serious pain.

"Come now cadet, you are twice as strong as that weakling yet you let him beat you to the GROUND. You're an embarrassment. I should kill you for your weakness." He finished hitting me and spit on my broken figure. "Unfortunately you're a female meaning I have to let you live. Don't disappoint me again."

I tried to yell at my past self to stop her as she jumped to her feet and lunged for the General and was caught by the throat. I knew what came next, I didn't want to watch. The General squeezed and squeezed until I had almost blacked out from pain and lack of oxygen. He let me go just before I passed out.

"Get out of my sight." I stood and turned to go but he stopped me and grabbed me by the sports bra, pulling me close. He pushed me against the wall and got extremely close to my face. "Impress me, Cameron. If you want to survive, you'll impress me."

The second he let go of me, I ran from the room and made my way to the bunks. I stumbled down the familiar hallways blindly, going on autopilot. I jumped at least a foot in the air when Jacoby grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

"Cam...what happened to you? Are you okay?" He asked. I couldn't respond. He could see that. He began to pull me towards our alcove. I heard the General's right hand man following us and I frantically tried to stop Jacoby.

"Cam, Cam, it's okay. Calm down. Cam!" Jacoby frantically tried to calm me.

"Jacoby, no, no, he's coming, he's right there!" I suddenly noticed Jacoby's shirt. "Jacoby, what are you doing? You're out of uniform! He's going to hurt you Jacoby please, he's right there and the General is already mad, please Jacoby."

"Okay, okay Cam." Jacoby pulled off his shirt and held up his hands in surrender. I suddenly noticed my shirt. "Better? It's okay he can't get to you."

I ripped off my shirt and let my hair down from whatever was restricting it.

"He's so mad, Jacoby, he's really mad." I sobbed as he pulled me close to his chest.

"Hear my heartbeat? Just focus on that, breathe Cam." He whispered.

Jacoby took deep breaths and I copied them and began to calm down finally. Jacoby rubbed my back in circular patterns up and down my back. As always Jacoby knew exactly what I needed to feel better. I felt someone throw a blanket over Jacoby and I and I was suddenly jerked back to reality.

We were back at Blackthorne in the common room. I looked up to see the Gallagher girls and their Blackthorne boys watching us curiously. It must've been horrible to watch if you've never seen one before. I looked to my left and saw Bex and Grant sitting there looking helpless. Nick was holding Macey who looked like she was going to cry and Liz actually was crying with Jonas trying to calm her. The worst was Zach.

The look on his face was a mixture of intense hatred and pain combined with a look I don't think I've seen on Zach's face before. Fear. He looked like he wanted to run to me but was afraid to. I didn't want him to see me like this. I turned my face back into Jacoby's chest.

"How bad was it?" I asked Jacoby.

"Not so bad. Like...a four." He replied as he ran his fingers through my hair.

"Oh good." I sighed as I relaxed into him once more. "Sorry for freaking out on you."

"Don't worry about it. It's not like I've never freaked out on you before. What was it this time?" He asked as if we were alone. I decided to pretend along with him.

"The day with Jay." I whispered. That's all he needed to hear.

"Ah. That was a bad one." He replied.

"Wasn't the worst." I reminded him.

"True." He agreed. He remembered the worst.

"What was the worst?" Tina asked quietly, afraid.

"None of your business." We snapped in unison.

Instinctively I gripped Jacoby tighter and his hand found my brand. I absentmindedly traced his. Our brands matched. Both on our left hips. Both received the same time. Both would be with us forever. We were a part of each other after that night. I couldn't be without Jacoby and I didn't want to.

"Cam...are you okay?" Bex asked. I made eye contact with her and let my eyes do the talking.

"Do you need anything Cam?" Grant asked.

"Just Jacoby." I replied as I felt Jacoby's grip tighten on me. I refused to look at Zach.

"Do you want us to leave you alone?" Macey asked.

"No, it's okay. She'll be okay now." Jacoby answered.

The silence that ensued choked me. I knew that everyone had questions that they didn't know how to ask and I wouldn't know how to answer. My sisters desperately tried to catch my eye, to somehow give me comfort in a way we all knew couldn't happen.

Macey, bless her soul, began a sort of quiet conversation with Liz over the homework assignment she was struggling with. Bex began a whispered conversation with Grant, I couldn't hear what they were talking about but I could guess. I didn't want to know what they said.

Slowly, the other girls began to talk, all carefully avoiding the subject of Jacoby and I. The moment the first giggle broke out, it was if the wall of awkward had finally crumbled and the conversations reached a normal volume.

Girls were teased, boys were gently smacked on the arm. Flirting and friendship surrounded me and I finally allowed myself to fully relax.

"So, _mon nounours_ , how are your parents? How's school?" I asked Jacoby, trying to focus on something else.

"All is well actually," He went on describe how his parents handled his PTSD and how his little sister was scared of him for a long time but she was less frightened of him now that he was doing better. "Jessica's actually got a boyfriend now. He's a sweet kid, real jokester. He's good for her I think. My dad on the other hand, completely disagrees."

"Ah, he's just being protective of her." I said with a smile.

"Do you ever wonder what your dad would be like if he was still around?" Jacoby asked.

"Not really. I think I know what he would be like. Like your dad I guess, protective. Always joking. He always managed to find a way to smile even after the hardest missions."

"He sounds like a great guy." Jacoby said with a smile.

"Yeah he was." I grinned back at him.

It wasn't long before dinner time had come, Solomon appeared briefly to tell us that Jacoby had obtained special permission to reside at blackthorne for a couple of weeks if his parents would give their consent. He would attend classes with me and the rest of the girls and would take an empty bed in some old janitor's room. I think Solomon knew more than he was letting on. I think he knew how important it was for me to have Jacoby there.

Solomon also informed me that I would begin attending counseling for what had happened with the bulldozers and if anything else happened to come up while I was attending my therapy sessions I could get help for that too. I decided Solomon must have bugged the common room.

Dinner was the same as always. Stares, conversations about us, and then eventually everyone moved on with their lives. We ran back to our room as soon as we could. The boys crowded around us as we pulled out decks of cards and started a game of poker. I bowed out gracefully a few hands in and relaxed into Jacoby as they all continued.

Another nightmare hit. This one was worse. Images flashed through my head almost faster than I could process them. Hands were on me, not kind hands either. Dozens of fighters set upon me. Bruises long faded seemed to reappear. Old injuries re-inflicted. I felt my throat begin to close up. I couldn't breathe. I grappled wildly for help and there were dozens of hands suddenly shaking to wake me up.

I sat up quickly and gasped for air, reaching for Jacoby, Bex, Liz, Macey, someone who could help.

As I struggled to catch my breath, the world continued around me.

"I HATE THIS!" Grant jumped to his feet.

"Grant, calm down." Bex tried to soothe him.

"No, I can't. No matter what I do, I can't seem to calm down. There's so much going wrong and nothing I can do about it. There's not one single thing. I find out I have a sister and I have all these ideas of being able to protect her and take care of her like no one ever bothered to do with me and she's in trouble and she's in so much pain and there's not a single thing I can do about it. I'm trying Cam, I'm trying to take care of you and make you feel better and help you but…"

"It's not your fault Grant. It's all going to be okay, I just need someone to stand by my side no matter what. I just need a friend." I told him softly, climbing out of Jacoby's arms.

"I can do that." He whispered as I wrapped him in a hug.

We held each other for a while. It felt good. It felt right, like I had found my other half and I guess in a way, I had. I could've stayed like that all day but we simultaneously remembered that we weren't alone in the room and that Grant had just spilled our secret to half of our grade.


End file.
